Elections to urban and panchayat bodies in Chhattisgarh, including municipal corporations, will be held in February, marking a fresh major electoral confrontation between BJP and Congress after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Elections to 173 civic bodies, including 10 municipal corporations, 49 municipal councils and 114 Nagar Panchayats, will be held in a single phase on February 11, State Election Commissioner Ajay Singh announced on Monday (January 20, 2025).
He said the three-tier Panchayat elections would be conducted in three phases on February 17, 20 and 23.
With the announcement of the polls schedule, the model code of conduct has come into force in these civic and panchayat bodies.
Nominations for contesting civic body elections can be filed between January 22 and January 28. Scrutiny of nominations will be held the next day and the last date for withdrawal is January 31.
Elections will be held in 3,201 wards of 173 civic bodies on February 11, and votes will be counted on February 15, the State Election Commissioner said.
Bypolls to five wards in Sukma and Durg civic bodies will also be conducted.
He said 44,74,269 voters, including 22,00,525 males, 22,73,232 females and 512 third-gender voters, are eligible to cast votes in civic polls.
Mr. Singh said 5,970 polling stations will be set up for general civic bodies. Among these polling stations, 1,531 have been categorised as sensitive and 132 as hyper-sensitive.
Similarly, 22 polling booths have been set up for by-poll to five wards, he added.
Nominations for the three-tier panchayat elections can be filed between January 27 and February 3. Scrutiny of nominations will be held the next day and the last day to withdraw candidature is February 6, Mr. Singh added.
He said polling for Panchayats will be held on February 17, 20 and 23. Votes will be counted at polling stations on February 17, 20 and 23.
Counting of votes, if necessary, will be conducted at the block headquarters on February 18, 21 and 24, respectively, the official added.
Tabulation and results for Panchs, Sarpanchs and Janpad Panchayat members at the block level will be held on February 19, 22 and 25, while for Zila Panchayat members on February 20, 23 and 25 at the district headquarters, Mr. Singh added.
Elections will be conducted for 1,75,258 posts in Panchayat elections, including 433 Zila Panchayat members, 2973 Janpad Panchayat members, 11,672 Sarpanchs and 1,60,180 Panchs, he said, adding that 1,58,12,580 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.
"31,041 polling stations, including 7,128 sensitive and 2,161 hyper-sensitive polling stations, will be set up for panchayat elections," he said.
While polls to civic bodies will be conducted through EVMs, votes will be cast through ballot papers in Panchayat elections, he said.
Civic elections will be held along the party lines, while panchayat bodies will be elected on a no-party basis, he added.
Published - January 21, 2025 12:54 am IST
