Latur: LMC Deploys 2,500 Staff, Sets Up 22 Sections Ahead Of Latur Civic Polls

Latur: Ahead of the Latur Municipal Corporation (LMC) elections, the civic body has deployed nearly 2,500 officers and employees to ensure a smooth and orderly poll process. To avoid inconvenience to candidates, work has been streamlined through the creation of 22 dedicated sections.

One election returning officer (ERO) has been appointed for every three wards. Accordingly, six returning officers (ROs) have been designated for the 18 wards, and their offices have been finalised. LMC Commissioner Mansi Meena stated at a recent press conference that nomination forms must be submitted at these respective offices. The sale and acceptance of forms will begin tomorrow, December 23.

With the final voters’ list already in place, the process of finalising polling stations is underway. Teams have been appointed for the Model Code of Conduct cell, expenditure monitoring, static surveillance, flying squads and video recording of campaign meetings and rallies. Static surveillance teams will be deployed at five key locations in the city -- Ambajogai Road, Barshi Road, Ausa Road, Babhalgaon Road and Nanded Road.

For the LMC polls, storage of voting machines and the strongroom are being set up at the Government Women’s Polytechnic on Barshi Road. The work is in its final stage, and the vehicles required for transporting voting machines are also being finalised.

Candidates will be required to submit nomination forms offline. As one RO has been appointed for every three wards, candidates can file their nominations at six designated centres corresponding to their wards, which are expected to prevent overcrowding. For reserved seats, candidates must attach a caste validity certificate along with the nomination form or submit supporting documents, accompanied by a mandatory undertaking to complete the validity process within six months, Meena said.

While filing nominations, both the proposer and seconder must be voters from the same ward as the candidate, and their serial numbers from the electoral roll must be mentioned. Proposers or seconders from other wards will not be accepted. Officials also said that user-friendly software has been provided to help search names and numbers in the voters’ list.

To increase voter turnout beyond the 2017 civic elections, a Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) awareness campaign will be rolled out. Programmes are being planned to encourage maximum citizen participation and ensure that voters exercise their democratic right.

Additional Commissioner Devidas Jadhav, Deputy Commissioner Vasudha Fad, Punjab Khansole and Sub-Divisional Officer Rohini Narhe-Virole were present at the press briefing.