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Journalism of Courage
Polling began at 12 municipal councils (nagar parishads) and three municipal panchayats (nagar panchayats) in the Pune district as part of the first phase of Maharashtra local body elections Tuesday morning. It will go on until 5.30 pm.
As many as 76 candidates are contesting for president posts and 955 for corporator seats. In the Pune district, there are 524 polling stations spread across 12 nagar parishads and three nagar panchayats, where 4,51,025 voters, including 2,27,142 men, 2,23,407 women, and 23 others, are eligible for voting.
To ensure that voters can exercise their right to vote, the government has declared Tuesday a public holiday in the respective local self-government constituencies. This public holiday also applies to voters who work outside their constituency.
The public holiday will also apply to central government offices, subordinate government offices, public sector undertakings, banks, within the nagar parishad and nagar panchayat areas.
District Collector Jitendra Dudi appealed to all citizens and political parties to follow the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) and complete the entire process peacefully. He urged eligible voters to participate in this festival of democracy and exercise their right to vote.
The district has set up 13 pink polling stations, where all staff members are women, and 15 ideal polling stations. Across all polling stations, 3,021 officials and staff, including presiding officers and polling officers, will be deployed.
Adequate police security has also been arranged to maintain law and order. Additionally, 1,608 ballot units and 823 control units have been prepared for the voting process.
After reviewing preparations on Monday, Collector Dudi instructed all polling officials to fulfil their duties responsibly, as per the directions of the State Election Commission.
Voting is underway for 246 municipal councils and 42 municipal panchayats across Maharashtra. Vote counting will be held Wednesday, and the results will be announced the same day.
Due to procedural irregularities and ongoing court cases, polling in at least 20 specific municipal councils and nagar panchayats initially scheduled for Tuesday has been postponed to December 20.
The schedule for elections of various other bodies, including the 29 municipal corporations such as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), 32 zilla parishads, and 336 panchayat samitis, is still pending and is expected to be announced later.
