The long-pending zila parishad and panchayat samiti elections in Punjab will be held on December 14 and the results will be declared after the counting of votes on December 17. With the announcement of the election date, the model code of conduct has come into force. The elections had been due since May.
While 50 per cent of the seats are reserved for women, parties will contest these elections on their symbols. These local body elections are being viewed by all parties as a litmus test of their political standing.
Announcing the schedule of elections here on Friday, State Election Commissioner Raj Kamal Chaudhari said 1.36 crore voters would be exercising their franchise in the elections to 23 zila parishads and 154 panchayat samitis. “There are 915 hyper-sensitive and 3,582 sensitive locations identified by the SEC. We will be making adequate arrangements for the smooth conduct of elections, including appointment of IAS and 2010-batch PCS officers as election observers, besides SP-rank police officers as police observers,” said Chaudhari.
He said there would be 19,181 polling booths and those wishing to contest zila parishad polls would have to pay a nomination fee of Rs 400 and those wanting to contest the panchayat samiti polls will have to pay a fee of Rs 200.
The nominations will be filed between December 1 and 4, while the papers will be scrutinised on December 5. The last date of withdrawal of nominations will be December 6.
18 IPS officers, 61 DSPs shifted ahead of polls
In a big reshuffle in the Punjab Police, 18 IPS and 61 DSP-rank officers have been given new postings. The 18 IPS officers transferred include a DIG, two AIGs and 15 SPs.
While DIG Surinderjit Singh Man has been posted to the Prisons Department, Parambir Singh Parmar has been appointed AIG, Law and Order and Kanwaldeep Singh has been assigned the role of AIG, Bureau of Investigation.
The reshuffle largely involves district-level postings. It is learnt that the transfers have been ordered in view of the upcoming local body elections.
Also read: Punjab cites floods to defer zila parishad polls to Dec
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