Maharashtra municipal polls to be held on 21 February
The election code of conduct will take immediate effect from Wednesday in the 10 poll-bound cities and 25 districts of Maharashtra
Mumbai: Elections to municipal corporations in 10 cities of Maharashtra, including Mumbai, will be held on 21 February, state election commissioner J.S. Saharia announced at a press conference on Wednesday. Besides, elections to 25 zilla parishads will be held in two phases on 16 and 21 February. Results for both set of polls will be declared on 23 February.
The election code of conduct will take immediate effect in the 10 poll-bound cities and 25 districts, he said.
“The election code of conduct will also apply to the state government as long as policy decisions relating to these cities and districts are concerned. But the election code will not affect ongoing development works wherever they are being implemented," Saharia said.
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The elections hold enormous significance for all parties including the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena. In the recently concluded municipal council polls, the BJP emerged as the single largest party, winning the most councils as well as seats of councillors.
Apart from Mumbai, elections will be held in Pune, Nagpur, Thane, Nashik, Pimpri Chinchwad, Solapur, Ulhasnagar, Amravati and Akola cities. These cities together account for a population of over 20.5 million, while the districts which go to polls have a population of more than 50 million.
In the 10 cities, polls will be held for a total of 1,268 seats of corporators while voters in 25 districts will elect 1,510 representatives of zilla parishads.
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The 227-member Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), India’s richest civic body with a budget of more than Rs37,000 crore (2016-17), is currently ruled by the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance. Pune, Nagpur and Thane have 162, 145 and 131 members, respectively, and currently ruled by the Nationalist Congress Party, BJP and Shiv Sena-BJP, in that order.
Saharia said elections to the Nagpur zilla parishad has been stayed by the Bombay high court.
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