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Mumbai, Oct 30 (IANS) The Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) has allowed supplementary voter lists for the upcoming local and civic body elections in the state till October 15 instead of the earlier announced date of July 1, officials said on Thursday.
The state election body may wait till the announcement of nomination process for elections in rural local bodies.
A senior SEC official said, “We had requested the Election Commission of India (ECI) to provide the new list by October 24 with a deadline of October 15. However, we did not receive any response. But till the time we announce the nomination process, we can accommodate the new list, if provided.”
The SEC had written to the ECI to provide the updated voter list by October 15.
“The reason behind making this demand is to ensure that more and more voters get the opportunity to vote. Secondly, the supplementary list is not just about adding names but also about deletions. The supplementary list will be an updated list with both additions and deletions of voters during July 1 and October 15,” the official said.
The program of publication of voter lists for rural local bodies like Municipal Council and Nagar Panchayat has already been completed in the State.
As per the original schedule, the voter list was published on October 8 and the deadline for suggestions and objections was October 13, which was later extended to October 17.
The final ward-wise list was declared on 28 October.
If the SEC’s request is accepted by the ECI, the entire process will have to be repeated for the supplementary voter list, including additions and deletions that occurred between July 1 and October 15.
A delegation of top opposition leaders had met the SEC and the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) in the first week of October, raising questions over the July 1 deadline for voter lists.
The opposition had demanded to extend it till November 7.
Following pressure from the opposition, the SEC wrote to the ECI requesting the voter list by October 15.
Meanwhile, the SEC on Thursday announced expenditure limits for the upcoming local body elections in Maharashtra.
As per the announcement, the maximum expenditure limit for a candidate for Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur municipal corporations is Rs 15 lakh.
The limit for Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nashik and Thane is Rs 13 lakh while for Kalyan-Dombivli, Navi Mumbai, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Vasai-Virar it will be Rs 11 lakh.
For the remaining 19 municipal corporations it will be Rs 9 lakh.
The decision to increase election expenditure was taken keeping in mind the increase in wholesale price index and consumer price index by at least 40 per cent between 2014-15 and 2024-25.
–IANS
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