Elections to urban local bodies on May 3

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, MARCH 28. The State Election Commission (SEC) will hold elections to four city corporations, 32 city municipal councils, 76 town municipal councils and 36 town panchayats on May 3. ``The elections are being held as per the directive of the High Court to complete the process by May 5,'' Mr. G. Muniyappa, State Election Commissioner, told presspersons here on Wednesday.

The model code of conduct would come into effect from today, he said. The list of voters as on January 1, 2001 would be applicable. On using voter identity cards and electronic voting machines, Mr. Muniyappa said the Government had to approve it. So far the Government had felt that ``it was not necessary'', he said.According to the official release from the SEC, the calender of events for the elections is as follows: date of notification of election - April 11; last date for submitting nominations - April 18; and last date for withdrawal of candidature - April 21. Polls will be held on May 3 from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. The counting of votes will start at 8 a.m. on May 4 at the headquarters of the local bodies. Elections are to be completed before May 5.

Reservation of seats

The High Court, ruling in favour of a public interest litigation, had directed the Government to come up with guidelines for ward- wise reservation of seats in the urban local bodies (ULBs), Mr. Muniyappa said. The court had directed that elections to the ULBs should be held only after the guidelines were issued. The Government had now submitted the guidelines to the court.

A total of 3,722 wards in the 148 ULBs will go to the polls on May 3. The SEC is pressing into service 412 returning officers, 412 assistant returning officers and 34,800 presiding officers and polling officers. The number of voters in the 148 ULBs is 6,780,629, comprising 3,485,890 men and 3,294,739 women.

The ULBs going to polls on May 3 are spread over Bangalore Urban and Rural, Chitradurga, Davangere, Kolar, Shimoga, Tumkur, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Chikmagalur, Hassan, Mandya, Kodagu, Belgaum and Bijapur districts.

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