SEC raps govt over move to carve out separate body from KDMC

Maharashtra State Election Commission has again rapped the government on the knuckles for its plan to carve out a separate municipal council for the 27 disputed villages under the poll-bound Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) near Mumbai.
The SEC stayed the two-day hearing on the issue, beginning from October 16, pointing to the model code of conduct in force for the November 1 elections to KDMC.
Earlier the government had tried to exclude these 27 villages from the jurisdiction of the KDMC when SEC announced the poll schedule.
The State Election Commissioner J S Saharia had then stated that the government cannot exclude the villages from KDMC as it had already set the poll process in motion.

Altering the boundaries will mean redrawing the ward boundaries, so SECM had stayed the government order of excluding the villages from KDMC limits.
The SECM has now stated that the act of holding hearings will influence the voters and amounts to offering them an inducement.
The hearing on carving out new a municipal council can be held after November 2, it said.