Ranchi: Preparations are on for the elections to the municipal bodies in the state. On the instructions of the State Election Commission, the work of finalizing the voter list is going on in all twenty-four districts. At present, the publication of the voter list has started at the district level from October 19.
On the basis of the instructions issued for the upcoming municipal general election 2022-23 by the Commission’s letter number 2277, 30-9-22, the preparation of the voter list is being finalized in different districts. In this sequence, the draft voter list has been published on October 19.
Claims and objections are to be received on this by October 29. After this, the claim and objection will be resolved by November 4. Along with this, the final publication of the voter list will also take place. Voter list has been published in most of the districts. Now claims and objections are being sought on this. Information is being given from the level of District Election Officer cum DC of the districts that the draft voter list has been put up at the specified places (city council office, all polling stations, ward councilor’s office).
Voters can inspect it within the next 10 days from 11 am to 5 pm. If there is any claim or objection, it can be given in Form-A (Appendix-1) and Form-B (Appendix-2) to the supervisor deputed at the said site itself. An acknowledgment receipt will be given to the applicant for information about the date, place for the hearing of the claim, and objection. If the current preparations are considered as the basis, then the civic elections are expected to be held early next year.
Significantly, the tenure of 13 municipal bodies in the state has ended. According to the rules, elections should have been held for him this year, but it has not happened. Now the tenure of the remaining 35 municipal bodies is also about to be completed by January-February. In such a situation, there is a possibility that the elections to all the municipal bodies should be held simultaneously. The Municipalities Act 2011 came into force on 9 February 2012 in the state.
The first municipal (common) elections were conducted in the state in the year 2008. After this, municipal elections were conducted in 2010, 2013, 2015 and 2018. Apart from this, by-elections were conducted in the year 2012, 2015 and 2018. At present, a total of 9 Municipal Corporations, 20 Nagar Parishads, 20 Nagar Panchayats (till 31 March 2022) have been declared.
There are 9 municipal corporations in the state (Medininagar Municipal Corporation, Hazaribagh Municipal Corporation, Giridih Municipal Corporation, Deoghar Municipal Corporation, Dhanbad Municipal Corporation, Chas Municipal Corporation, Ranchi Municipal Corporation, Adityapur Municipal Corporation and Mango Municipal Corporation).