Maha SEC allows supplementary voters' list till Oct 15 for local and civic body polls

Mumbai, Oct 30 (IANS) The Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) has allowed supplementary voters' list till October 15 than the previously declared July 1 for the upcoming local and civic body elections to be held in the state, officials said on Thursday.

The state poll body may wait till the announcement of nomination process for the election in rural local bodies.

"We had requested the Election Commission of India (ECI) to provide the new list with October 15 as deadline till October 24. We, however, did not get any response. But we can accommodate the new list, if provided, till the time we announce the nomination process," a senior official from the SEC said.

The SEC had written to the ECI to provide the voters' list updated till October 15.

"The reason behind making this demand is to ensure as many voters as possible get an opportunity to vote. Secondly, the supplementary list is not only about addition of names, but deletion as well. The supplementary list will be an updated list with both addition and deletion of voters during July 1 and October 15," the officer said.

The programme of publication of voters' list for rural local bodies such as municipal councils and municipal panchayats has already been completed in the state.

As per the original programme, the voters' list was published on October 8 and the deadline for suggestion and objection was October 13, which was later extended to October 17.

The final ward-wise list was announced on October 28.

If SEC's request is accepted by the ECI, the entire process will have to be repeated for the supplement voters' list, which will include additions and deletions took place between July 1 and October 15.

The delegation of top opposition leaders had met the SEC and the state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) in the first week of October questioning the July 1 deadline for the voters' list.

The Opposition had demanded that it be extended to November 7.

Following the pressure from the Opposition, the SEC wrote to the ECI, requesting voters' list till October 15.

Meanwhile, the SEC, on Thursday, announced the expenditure limit for the upcoming local body polls in Maharashtra.

As per the announcement, maximum expense limit for Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur municipal corporations is Rs 15 lakh for a candidate.

For Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nasik and Thane, the limit is Rs 13 lakh while for Kalyan-Dombivli, Navi Mumbai, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Vasai-Virar, it will be Rs 11 lakh.

For the rest of 19 municipal corporations it will be Rs 9 lakh.

The decision to increase the election expenditure was taken considering at least 40 per cent rise in Wholesale Price Index and Consumer Price Index between 2014-15 and 2024-25.

--IANS

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