The State Election Commission (SEC) on Tuesday said as per the primary estimate 76% polling was reported in the 106 nagar panchayat elections, 69% in Bhandara and Gondia Zilla parishad and panchayat samitis under their jurisdiction, 38% in municipal corporations by-poll and 73% in the gram panchayat by-poll. The polling on Tuesday took place for elections in SC, ST and general seats excluding seats reserved for the OBC community.
The polling was held for 82 seats in Bhandara and Gondia Zilla parishads, 165 seats of 15 panchayat samitis under their jurisdiction and 1,458 seats in 106 nagar panchayats. The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi partners contested these elections together to give a united fight against BJP. MVA ministers including Balsaheb Thorat, Rajesh Tope, Nawab Malik, Gulabrao Patil, Dhananjay Munde among others addressed poll rallies while BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who is the leader of the opposition, was the party’s star campaigner.
As per the Supreme Court’s recent order, the SEC will de-reserve the OBC seats and hold polling on January 18. As reported by the Free Press Journal, in Bhandara and Gondia Zilla parishads 23 seats will be de-reserved, 45 seats in 15 panchayat samitis under their jurisdiction and 344 in 106 Nagar panchayats. Of the de-reserved OBC seats, 50% will be reserved for women. The polling for these de-reserved seats will be held on January 18. The counting will take place on January 19.
