Chandigarh, December 19: The nomination process for the elections of 13,276 Panchayats of Punjab picks up speed with a total of 2,494 nominations filed for the post of Sarpanches and 5,772 for the post of Panches up to December 17. The last date to file nominations papers for December 30 elections is December 19, Wednesday.
“The nomination papers would be scrutinized on December 20 while the date for withdrawal of nominations would be December 21 which would also be the date for allotting the election symbols to the candidates,” said the spokesperson of the State Election Commissioner.
Spokesperson said that the voting would be held on December 30 from 8 am till 4 pm and counting of votes would be held same day after concluding polling of votes. As many 13,276 Sarpanchs and 83,831 Panches would be elected for 13,276 Panchayats, said the spokesperson.
Spokesperson said that there are total 1.27 crore (1,27,87,395) registered voters in the state for these elections, out of which 66,88,245 are male, 60,66,245 female and 97 are third gender voters.
The State Election Commission has established 17,268 polling booths and 86,340 personnel will be deputed on election duty.
Elaborating more, the spokesperson said that the expenditure limit for a candidate contesting for the post of Sarpanch has been fixed at Rs 30,000 whereas the limit for those contesting for post of Panch has been fixed at Rs 20,000.
State Election Commission on Tuesday issued orders for the suspension of Navreet Singh Ghuman, SDO DCD Faridkot at Gidderbaha.
Ghuman was appointed as Assistant Returning Officer (ARO), Zone No 8 for Gram Panchayat Elections but he failed to report for election duty at the fixed date and time.
In view of the serious irregularity committed by the officer by absenting himself from the election duty, the SEC has ordered to place him under suspension with immediate effect.
The Commission has also made it clear that the officer may not be reinstated in service before getting the recommendations of the State Commission.
Raising question over the hooliganism by Congress leaders during the paper filing process of Panchayat polls, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday demanded from the State Election Commission to extend the date for filing the nominations.
At the same time, the party demanded that the leaders of ruling party must be stopped from barring opposition candidates to file the papers as the “administrative officers are playing in the hands of Congress leaders and unnecessarily creating obstacles for the opposition leaders”.
“Despite presenting all necessary documents for filing the papers, the no objection certificates (NOCs) are not being issued to the opposition candidates,” alleged AAP MLA and the Leader of Opposition in Punjab Vidhan Sabha Harpal Singh Cheema.
Saying that similar complaints are coming from all areas of the state, Cheema demanded that the paper filing date earlier decided by the government must be extended so that the opposition candidates can file the papers.
Demanding intervention of the State Election Commission, he asked to direct the officers to provide equal platform to all candidates beyond party line.
Punjab State Election Commission has appointed IAS and PCS officers as the observers for panchayat elections for December 30.
The order, issued by the State Election Commissioner for the same, stated that the SEC, in exercise if the powers under Article 243-K of Constitution, read with Section 23 of Punjab State Election Commission Act 1994, and the rules framed there under, has appointed the election observers for all the blocks.
As many 50 officers — including 20 IAS and 30 PCS — have been appointed observers in all districts of the state for elections.
