Vadodara set for coming polls

VADODARA, Aug 18: The district administration has asked 62 licenced arms holders to deposit their weapons in the next two days failing wh...

VADODARA, Aug 18: The district administration has asked 62 licenced arms holders to deposit their weapons in the next two days failing which they would be impounded. This, according to district collector Anil Mukim, was being done to ensure peace and harmony during the forthcoming Parliamentary polls in the district.

Mukim and Resident Deputy Collector C R Kharsan told Express Newsline that though there were over 5,000 arm-holders in the district, only about 400 of them had arms for self-protection while the rest were mainly for the protection of crops from wild animals.

8220;Only 62 of them 8212; who had some direct or indirect association with any crime in the past 8212; have been asked to deposit their guns8221;, Mukim said, and added that a recent Supreme Court directive had asked all state governments not to take all the arms in possession excepting cases of dire necessity.

Meanwhile, the stage is being set for the September 5 Parliamentary polls in the Chhotaudepur and Vadodara seats. The final tally of nominations was five candidates from Chhotaudepur and eight from Vadodara seat till today, the last date of nominations. According to official information, besides the Congress8217; Naran Rathwa and Bharatiya Janata Party8217;s Ramsinh Rathwa, Ramesh Vasava JD-United, Nagin Rathwa and Khumansinh Tadavi both independent had filed their papers for Chhotaudepur seat.

In Vadodara, with five candidates including the Congress8217; Urmila Patel filing their papers on Wednesday, the total has risen to eight. They are Upendrasinh Gohil NCP and Vikram Verma, Chhattar Tank and Phula Patel all independents. Others who have already filed their papers are Jayaben Thakkar BJP, Prem J Pawar Bahujan Samaj Party and Satish Desai of Janata Dal Sharad.

Meanwhile, all the six Central observers 8212; Harish Kumar, additional secretary, Revenue, Andhra Pradesh, M C Majumdar, director, Consumers8217; Goods Department, Calcutta both general observers for Chhotaudepur and Jai Prakash, director, Customs, Mumbai, on expenditure for Chhotaudepur and Rajneesh Vaishya, R Shastri and Indra Kumar for Vadodara 8212; have arrived in the city and held meetings with the election and police officials.

The nomination papers would be scrutinised on Thursday while the last date for their withdrawal would be August 21. The Vadodara district goes to the polls with about 24 lakh voters 8212; at least 50,000 more than last time 8212; and 15,000 officials on election duty. There are 1505 polling booths in the city and 1206 in the rural areas, of which 174 in Chhotaudepur and 152 in Vadodara city are sensitive. A contingency plan is also ready in case it rains heavily on or prior to the poll day, Mukim says.