Elections in Maharastra
Mumbai: The campaign has gained momentum in the Maharashtra Assembly elections. Many nomination guidelines have also been published. The leaders arrive with a grand procession along with their supporters for the nomination. And at the time of filing the nomination, the crowd at the District Election Officer’s office also increases. Now the Mumbai Police has limited the number of people entering the returning officer’s (RO) office to file nominations for the Assembly elections to five.
As per the prohibitory order issued on Tuesday under section 163 of the Indian Civil Security Code (BNSS), only three vehicles of any candidate will be allowed to enter within a 100 meter radius of the RO office, said a official. The order says the police have also banned political campaigning through slogans, rallies, processions, songs and use of musical instruments during submission of nomination papers.
The official said that if two candidates from different political parties come to file their nomination papers at the same time, neither will take provocative action against the other. This prohibitory order will remain in force in the district and suburbs of Mumbai till November 4. Voting for elections to the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly will be held on November 20 and counting of votes will take place on November 23. The term of the current assembly will end on November 26.
Initiative to increase voting in Colaba, Mumbai
Officials are contacting civil society members and housing society representatives in Mumbai’s Colaba area asking for increased voting percentage in the assembly elections in Maharashtra. This move was taken after Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar last week expressed concern over the impact on voting percentage due to apathy among urban voters. In the 2019 state assembly elections, a very low turnout, around 40 per cent, was recorded in Mumbai’s Colaba area.
To address the problem of apathy among urban voters, the Election Commission decided to hold the elections on Wednesday (November 20) this time to prevent voters from going on vacation as it is not a weekend. Mumbai City Collector Sanjay Yadav told reporters on Tuesday that he had drawn up a list of polling stations where low turnout was recorded in the last elections and had drawn up an action plan based on the polling station. He said they are reaching out to booth level attendees as well as civil society members and housing society officials in Colaba constituency to increase the voting percentage. He said there are a large number of defense colonies in Colaba and therefore he is reaching out to defense officials and asking his employees to ask them to vote. According to Election Commission data, there are 2,64,931 voters in Colaba Assembly constituency.
