Jaipur: The nomination process for Rajasthan’s upcoming urban local body elections begins on Thursday, marking the first local body elections to be conducted under the ‘One State, One Election’ framework.
Nominations will be filed for 10,245 wards across 309 urban local bodies. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress have not yet finalised their candidate lists. Both parties are expected to announce their tickets on August 28 or 29.
As a result, independent candidates are likely to be among the first to file their nomination papers.
Thousands of aspirants have reportedly sought tickets from the two major political parties for councillor posts. With more than 12 major parties expected to contest the elections, the process of finalising and processing party nominations is likely to take considerable time.
Although the official nomination period runs from August 27 to August 31, candidates will be able to file their papers on only three days — August 27, 29 and 31 — as August 28 is Raksha Bandhan, while August 30 falls on Sunday.
The Jaipur Municipal Corporation has established 15 Returning Officer (RO) offices to facilitate the nomination process.
The race for party tickets has intensified, with large numbers of aspirants gathering at the BJP and Congress state headquarters.
Candidates are meeting senior leaders and lobbying for tickets while the parties scrutinize their profiles, backgrounds and electoral prospects.
The rush has also increased demand for hotels in Jaipur, with several establishments reportedly seeing high occupancy as ticket aspirants and party workers arrive from different districts.
Unlike the Lok Sabha elections, when the Election Commission of India provided a home-voting facility for eligible elderly and other voters, the Rajasthan State Election Commission has not introduced such a facility for these local body elections.
Consequently, voters, including elderly and sick persons, will have to visit polling stations to cast their votes.
The State Election Commission has revised polling dates for some urban bodies due to festivals and other considerations. Meanwhile, in Pali Municipal Corporation, voting will now be held on September 11 instead of September 9 due to Paryushan Mahaparv. Also, in Fatehpur Municipal Council, Sikar, polling has been moved from September 11 to September 9. In Bikaner Municipal Corporation, voting will take place on September 9 instead of September 11.
Elections to 315 urban wards in Ajmer district will be conducted in two phases. The first phase will cover Pisangan, Nasirabad, Kekri, Sarwar, Tantoti and Sawar.
The second phase will cover Ajmer Municipal Corporation, Kishangarh Municipal Council and Pushkar Municipal Council. Similarly, elections in seven urban local bodies of Khairthal-Tijara district will be held in two phases.
The first phase will cover Khairthal, Tijara and Bhiwadi, while the second phase will cover Kishangarhbas, Mundawar, Kotkasim and Tapukara.
(IANS)
