The elections to 10 municipal corporations in Maharashtra, including the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), will be held on February 21, the State Election Commission announced today.
Counting of votes will take place on February 23, State Election Commissioner JS Saharia told reporters here.
The other big corporations where the polls will be held include Pune and Thane.
The elections to 25 zilla parishads will also be held in two phases, on February 16 and 21, Saharia said.
With the announcement of the poll schedule, the election code of conduct has come into effect from today.
Though the elections will be held in 10 municipal corporations, the focus will be on the country's richest civic body, the BMC.
Leaders of BJP and Shiv Sena have so far spoken of their willingness for an alliance in these polls. However, there is no announcement yet of any seat-sharing formula.
In the 2012 polls, of the 227 seats in the BMC, Shiv Sena had contested from 158 seats and won 75, whereas the BJP had contested from 69 seats and won 32.
The BJP, which won the maximum number of seats in the recent municipal council and nagar parishad polls, is eyeing more seats this time around.
The current terms of Mumbai, Thane, Ulhasnagar, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nashik, Akola, Solapur, Amravati and Nagpur civic bodies end in March.
The HSC examinations will be held between February 28 and March 25 and the SSC exams between March 7 and 29.
In 2012, the BMC elections were held on February 16 and the new House of the BMC was formed on March 8.
The electoral roll for the BMC and other municipal corporations, as on January 1, has been updated on the SEC website.
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Saharia said elections to 283 panchayat samitis in the state will also be held along with the zilla parishads in two phases.
Some seven crore voters are expected to exercise their franchise in the elections, the State Election Commissioner added.
With over 70 per cent voters in the state to participate in the polls, the outcome would be seen as a mandate on the performance of the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena alliance government, which is in power for over two years now.
"Voting for the first phase of polls (ZPs and panchayat samitis) will be held on February 16 and on February 21 for the second phase. All the 10 municipal corporations will go to polls on February 21. Counting of votes for both the phases of zilla parishads and panchayat samitis and the municipal corporations will take place on February 23 at one go," said Saharia.
"Districts like Jalgaon, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Jalna, Parbhani, Hingoli, Beed, Nanded, Osmanabad, Latur, Buldana, Yavatmal, Wardha, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli, along with 165 panchayat samitis, will go to polls on February 16. Out of the 283 panchayat samitis, 165 are going to polls in the first phase.
"In the second phase, districts like Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Pune, Solapur, Nashik, Amravati and Gadchiroli will go to polls on February 21. As many as 118 panchayat samitis will also go for voting on the same day," Saharia said.
He said 10 municipal corporations such as Mumbai, Nagpur, Thane, Solapur, Akola, Amravati, Pune, Nanded, Ulhasnagar and Pimpri-Chinchwad will also go to polls on February 21.
"We have tried to hold municipal corporation and ZP polls from the same districts on a single day," he added.
The candidates will have to fill in their nomination forms on the State Election Commission's website. It has to be downloaded and submitted to the Returning Officer with the applicant's signature, Saharia said.
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Saharia also said, "Every candidate will have to open a special bank account from where the candidate will be asked to make payments for the campaign and related expenditures. This will be easier for the state election commission to verify the payment mode and actual expenditure."
"A candidate from A category municipal corporation can spend up to Rs five lakh for his or her campaign, whereas for B and C category municipal corporation, the expenditure limit is of Rs four lakh.
"Candidate from D category municipal corporation and zilla parishad can spend Rs three lakh during the campaign. The limit is of Rs two lakh for panchayat samiti elections. The SEC is going to consider the expenditure on social media such as twitter, WhatsApp and similar other groups as a part of election campaign," he added.
Saharia also said that candidates have to submit their expenditure details within 30 days after the counting is done.
"The political parties are given a period of 60 days from the counting day for submission of their expenditure details. If a winning candidate fails to submit the details, the person can lose his membership," said Saharia.
Meanwhile, Saharia said officials had seized Rs 26 crore cash during campaign for the four phases of the recently concluded municipal council elections.
"As many as 1.50 lakh liters of liquor worth Rs 10 crore was seized. Around 10,000 persons were given externment notices for the election period, while another 2,000 persons faced criminal cases for various violations," he added.
