by Alok Mohit
PATNA: Elections to 224 of the 261 municipal bodies in Bihar would be conducted in two phases—October 10 and October 20, the State Election Commission (SEC) said on Friday.
The polling for the 24 municipal bodies will be held after the Chhath festival and the remaining 13 will go to polls next year. The election schedule for these civic bodies will be announced soon, it said.
The SEC said 14,52,759 voters would exercise their franchise in 17 municipal corporations, 70 nagar parishads and 137 nagar panchayats going to polls in the first two phases.
State Election Commissioner Deepak Prasad, who announced the civic poll schedule, said nomination for the first phase of civic polls would begin on September 10 and continue till September 19. “The scrutiny of papers will be done on September 20 and 21. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is September 24 and counting will be held on October 12,” he added.
The nomination for the second phase of voting would begin from September 16 and end on September 24. “The scrutiny will be held on September 25 and 26. The last date for withdrawal for would be phase is September 29. Counting of votes will be taken up on October 22,” Prasad added.
Polling for the Patna Municipal Corporation would be held in the second phase, the State Election Officer said.
In the upcoming elections, the earlier reservation will be applicable in seven of the 19 municipal corporations in the state. The reservation of 2017 will be applicable in Patna, Ara, Gaya, Chapra, Darbhanga, Bhagalpur and Muzaffarpur Municipal Corporations.
In nine municipal corporations, including Ara, Darbhanga, Patna, Begusarai, Bettiah and Sasaram, the post of mayor and deputy mayor have been reserved for women.
In Patna, while the mayor will be from of general category, the deputy mayor seat has been reserved for woman from backward classes.
