The State Election Commission has decided to hold elections to gram panchayats in two phases, tentatively in the last week of May.
In an chat with reporters after reviewing preparations for the elections in Belagavi revenue division, along with senior officials, at the Suvarna Soudha here on Thursday, State Election Commissioner P.N. Srinivasachari said there were more than 6,000 gram panchayats in the State and the electoral college had over 3.4 crore voters.
Elections would be held for all gram panchayats whose term would end in August. The polls would be held in two phases with a gap of three or four days, Mr. Srinivasachari said.
He said the exact number of gram panchayats and voters, and other data would be available only after the SEC reviewed preparations in all the four revenue divisions. The SEC recently reviewed preparations in respect of Mysuru division. Reviews would be conducted for Bengaluru and Kalaburagi divisions at their respective headquarters on April 25 and 28.
In Belagavi division, there were 1,655 gram panchayats, 9,800 polling stations, and over 75,31,000 voters spread over seven districts — Bagalkot, Belagavi, Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri, Uttara Kannada, and Vijayapura.
Mr. Srinivasachari said the revision of electoral rolls would be completed by April 30. However, voters would be allowed to make corrections till the last day of the nomination process.
‘No comments’
Mr. Srinivasachari declined to comment on the controversy surrounding the proposed elections to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike council, saying that the matter was being heard by the High Court.
Revision of electoral rolls will be completed by April 30
P.N. Srinivasachari,
State Election Commissioner
