The Gujarat State Election Commission (SEC) on Wednesday announced the schedule for local body elections across the state, with polling for over 10,000 seats across municipal corporations, municipalities and panchayats scheduled to take place on April 26.
State Election Commissioner S Murali Krishna said that voting will be conducted through electronic voting machines (EVMs) from 7 am to 6 pm. The Model Code of Conduct came into effect with immediate effect across the state.
Krishna said about 41.8 million voters are eligible to vote for 15 municipal corporations – including major centers like Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar, as well as newly formed corporations like Nadiad, Surendranagar, Anand, Navsari, Vapi, Morbi, Gandhidham, Porbandar and Mehsana. The surveys also cover 84 municipalities, 34 panchayats and 260 taluka panchayats across the state.
Nominations begin on April 6 and close on April 11. Nominations will be examined on April 13. Candidates can withdraw nominations until April 15. Voting will take place on April 26, and re-voting will take place, if necessary, on April 27.
A total of 9,992 seats will go to the polls, in addition to 13 subsidiary municipal seats, bringing the total number to 10,005.
Krishna said 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) will be implemented in local body elections.
He said the implementation of the new reservation quota for OBC has greatly affected the structure of polls. The SEC will set up 49,591 polling stations across the state, with a maximum of 1,200 voters per booth. The Election Commission said that about 11,000 polling stations were classified as sensitive and 3,300 as highly sensitive.
In the 2021 local body elections, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party retained control over most municipal corporations. But the previous elections also witnessed the entry of the Aam Aadmi Party into state politics. AAP even became the main opposition party in the Surat Municipal Corporation, replacing the Congress.
AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann were in the state to hold organizational meetings in Saurashtra and central Gujarat from March 24 to 27.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also visited Gujarat on March 23, to attend a tribal rights program in Vadodara while reviewing the party’s preparations for the local body elections.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the state on March 31 and attended official programs and public events. The BJP also formed a state-level election management committee and held organizational meetings and planning exercises at the booth level ahead of the elections.
