Mizoram State Election Commission on Wednesday announced that elections to 558 village councils and 83 local councils will be held on August 27.
The election will be held to 558 village councils in the state, barring 3 Autonomous District Council (ADC) areas in two districts and 83 local councils in Aizawl Municipal Corporation (AMC) area.
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Besides, bypoll to the Siaha North-1 seat in Mara Autonomous District Council (MADC) will also be held simultaneously.
There are 2,464 seats in 558 village councils in 9 districts including Aizawl, Lunglei, Serchhip, Champhai, Mamit, Kolasib, Saitual, Khawzawl and Hnahthial while there are 545 local council seats in AMC area.
Polling for the bypoll to Siaha North-1 seat will be held on August 26, State Election Commissioner Laima Chozah said.
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Chozah said August 11 has been fixed as the last date for filing nomination papers for village and local councils’ polls while August 13 has been fixed as the last date for withdrawal of candidature.
Scrutiny of nomination papers will be held on August 11 after 3 pm and the votes will be counted on 27 August as soon as the polling is over.
Date of re-poll, if required, will be held on August 28, Chozah said.
As for the bypoll, the last date for filing nomination papers is August 19 and the scrutiny of the nomination papers will be held on the same day after 3 pm.
The last date for withdrawal of candidature has been fixed on August 20 and the counting of votes will be held on August 28.
Chozah said, there are a total of 4,54,180 voters, including 2,29,937 female voters in 558 village councils and 2,18,758 voters, including 1,17,037 female voters in 83 local councils, according to the latest electoral rolls published on July 31.
Of the 2,464 seats in village councils, 633 seats are reserved for women, which means one-third of the total existing seats in each village council are reserved for women candidates, Chozah said.
Although the existing village council term was due to expire on May 7, it has been extended twice till September 7 due to the outbreak of Covid19, he said.
There are 545 local council seats of which 148 are reserved for women.
According to the State Election Commissioner, a total of 1,627 voters would exercise their franchise to elect their representative in the bypoll to Siaha North-I seat in MADC.
State Election Commission secretary Teresy Vanlalhruaii said apart from the Centre and state government orders, the State Election Commission will issue standard operating procedure and safety protocol to be followed during polling in view of the pandemic.
She said not more than 50 persons will be allowed to assemble in polling areas.