Punjab Announces Local Body Polls: Voting on 14 Dec, Ballot Paper to Be Used
Chandigarh (The Uttam Hindu): The election schedule for Punjab’s Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti polls has been officially announced. The State Election Commission, during a press conference, confirmed that voting will take place on 14 December and the results will be declared on 17 December. This time, polling will be conducted using ballot papers instead of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The entire election process will begin with the filing of nominations from 1 December.
According to the schedule released by the commission, the nomination process will run from 1 to 4 December. Candidates can submit their forms between 11 AM and 3 PM on all working days, with the final deadline being 3 PM on 4 December. The scrutiny of nomination papers will be held on 5 December, while candidates will be allowed to withdraw their names till 6 December. Voting will be conducted on 14 December, and results will be announced on 17 December.
The commission clarified that polling will be done through ballot papers due to a shortage of EVMs. Around 40,000 machines were required, but the Election Commission of India does not issue its available EVMs to states. Therefore, each polling booth will have two separate ballot boxes, one for Zila Parishad and one for Panchayat Samiti. A total of 19,181 polling booths will be set up across the state. Notably, 50% of all seats will be reserved for women.
Punjab has one Zila Parishad in every district, comprising 357 zones. Likewise, the state has 154 Panchayat Samitis with 2,863 designated zones. One member is elected from each zone. As per the commission’s data, the total number of rural voters stands at 1 crore 36 lakh 4 thousand. The minimum age to contest the election is 21 years, and the candidate must be a registered voter of the same zone.
The commission has also fixed the nomination fees and expenditure limits. The nomination fee is ₹400 for Zila Parishad and ₹200 for Panchayat Samiti, while SC and BC candidates will pay half the amount. A major change this time is that candidates can contest as independents, which was not allowed earlier. The spending limit has been set at ₹2.55 lakh for Zila Parishad candidates and ₹1.10 lakh for Panchayat Samiti candidates. To conduct the elections, 96,000 polling staff and 50,000 police personnel will be deployed.