27 March,2017 02:35 AM IST | | Faisal Tandel
It is scheduled for May, when they say voters will be on vacation; they will approach the Election Commission with their request
BJP MLA claims that most voters plan to go on vacation in May. PIC FOR REPRESENTATION
The summer heralds vacations, and while this may be good news for many, it is not so for members of the Panvel Municipal Corporation.
Many of them have demanded that the civic elections scheduled for May be postponed, as they say many voters are on vacation then, and it will reduce voting by at least 20 percent.
Prashant Thakur, a Bharatiya Janata Party MLA, has recently requested the new municipal commissioner, Rajendra Nimbalkar, to postpone the election. "We will also request the Election Commission to postpone it before the dates are declared," said Thakur.
More voting percentage
Thakur claims that the Panvel Municipal Corporation, formed in August 1852, is first municipal council in country. It is now the 27th municipal corporation in the state and the first in Raigad district. "It is the first election after the transition from council to corporation, and the Election Commission, and the authorities should take efforts to see that there is a rise in the voting percentage.
Most voters are planning to go on vacation in May. This will cause the voting percentage to decline," added Thakur. As this is the first civic election, Thakur and other MLAs feel it should be conducted well. "We are also going to complain to the authorities, that of the 4.25 lakh voters, around 1.94 lakh are objectionable. There are irregularities like one person's name is in more than one ward's list etc. This has to be rectified," said Thakur.
Commissioner says
Municipal Commissioner Nimbalkar said, "MLAs had first approached me with a request to remove errors from the voters' list. We will rectify all the errors and update the voters' list before March 31 online. The list will be ward wise. In the coming days we will also create an awareness programme among citizens to increase the voting percent. But regarding postponing the election, it is not in my hands. They will have to approach the EC."
