2.58 million voters to decide fate of 1,837 candidates in Ghaziabad on Thursday

A total of 1,837 candidates are in the fray for the nine seats of mayor/chairpersons and 294 seats of councillors/members

Over 2.58 million voters of Ghaziabad district will reach polling booths on Thursday to elect the mayor and councillors of the Ghaziabad municipal corporation as well as members and chairpersons of eight other local bodies in the district.

Polling officials collect Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and other election materials for the second phase of the municipal election at a distribution centre in Kamla Nehru Nagar in Ghaziabad on Wednesday. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

A total of 1,837 candidates are in the fray for the nine seats of mayor/chairpersons and 294 seats of councillors/members.

District officials said they have made elaborate arrangements for polling day and all polling officials have departed from the Kamla Nehru Nagar grounds on Wednesday morning to their respective centres/booths.

According to the district election officials, there will be a total of 606 polling centres and 2,371 polling booths in the district for the nine local bodies, including the Ghaziabad municipal corporation.

“We despatched 2,371 polling parties (about 11,855 polling staff) to different polling centres to start polling on Thursday morning. We have also deployed 35 zonal magistrates and 132 sector magistrates to oversee the election process on Thursday.

The poll arrangements have been completed and electronic voting machines (EVMs) have been sent to the corporation and also to Loni nagar palika, The remaining local bodies will vote on ballot paper,” said Vipin Kumar, additional district magistrate (ADM) and nodal officer for local bodies.

“Prohibitory orders are in place till May 15 and various security arrangements have been taken up and are constantly being reviewed. The areas around the polling centres have already been declared as no fly zones. Even drones and other flying objects will be permitted to fly without permission,” said Nipun Agarwal, deputy commissioner of police (city).

Twelve women candidates are in the fray for the coveted post of the mayor of the Ghaziabad municipal corporation. The seat has been held by the Bharatiya Janata Party since the corporation came into existence in 1994.

Besides the BJP, the Aam Aadmi Party, Congress, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal, and the other main contesting parties, besides independents.

During the last local body elections in November 2017, the district had recorded a polling of 41.74% in the municipal corporation.

According to district officials, there are about 2,580,225 voters in the nine local bodies and 45.7% of voters (1,179,169) are women. The break-up of voters is as follows: Ghaziabad municipal corporation (1,539,822), the four nagar palikas of Modinagar (182,670), Muradnagar (99,814), Loni (521,026) and Khoda (172,256) and the four nagar panchayats of Niwari (8,943), Patla (8,361), Faridnagar (12,001) and Dasna (35,332).

“There has been a further addition of about 1,500 voters since the last revision,” ADM Vipin Kumar said.