Even as the Election Commission of India (ECI) is yet to accept the request of the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) to allow supplementary voters’ list updated till October 15 than the previously declared July 1, the state poll body may wait till the announcement of the nomination process for elections to the rural local bodies.
“We had requested the Election Commission of India (ECI) to provide the list updated till October 15 by October 24. However, we have not received a response yet. We can accommodate the new list provided the ECI accepts our request before we announce the nomination process,” a senior official from the SEC told The Indian Express.
The state election body had written to the ECI to provide the voters list updated till October 15. “The reason behind making this demand is to ensure as many voters get an opportunity to vote. Secondly, the supplementary list is not only about addition of names, but deletion as well. The supplementary list will be an updated list with both addition and deletion (of voters) between July 1 and October 15,” said the officer.
The process of publishing voters’ list for rural local bodies— such as municipal councils and municipal panchayats—has already been completed. As per the initial program, the voters list was published on October 8 and the deadline for suggestion and objection was October 13, which was later extended to October 17. The final ward wise list was announced on October 28.
If SEC’s request is accepted by the ECI, the entire process will have to be repeated for the supplement voters’ list which will included addition and deletion of voters that took place between July 1 and October 15.
In the first week of October, a delegation of Opposition leaders had met the SEC and the Maharashtra’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) questioning the July 1 deadline for the voters list. The opposition had demanded that it be extended to November 7. Following the pressure from the Opposition, the SEC wrote to the ECI requesting the voters list updated till October 15.
Meanwhile, the SEC on Thursday announced the expenditure limit for the local body polls. As per the announcement, maximum expense limit for Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur municipal corporations is Rs 15 lakh for a candidate.
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For Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nasik and Thane, the limit is Rs 13 lakh while for Kalyan Dombivli, Navi Mumbai, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Vasai-Virar, it will be Rs 11 lakh. For the rest of the 19 municipal corporations, the limit has been set at Rs 9 lakh.
