EC revises poll date for bypolls, Ghaziabad to vote on November 20

The date for counting of votes remains November 23 as previously notified, the Election Commission of India said

The date for the Ghaziabad assembly seat bypoll has been revised from November 13 to November 20, the Election Commission of India (EC) said on Monday. The date for counting of votes remains November 23 as previously notified, EC said.

Candidates filed nomination papers in Ghaziabad in October. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

EC has revised the election schedule for 14 assembly segments in Punjab, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, which includes Ghaziabad, from November 13 to 20.

“Representations were received from various political parties and social organisations seeking change of election date in some assembly constituencies having bye elections on November 13 considering large scale social, cultural and religious engagements on that day,” EC said in a press statement on Monday.

The Ghaziabad seat has been empty since its MLA Atul Garg contested and won the Lok Sabha election from the Ghaziabad constituency. According to the election schedule, the last date for withdrawal of nomination was October 30 and none of the 14 candidates left in fray chose to withdraw his or her name.

“The contesting candidates can now campaign till a day (24 hours) before the polling day. The other conditions such as the expenditure limit and the counting dates will remain same. Extending the polling day will mean that candidates can now campaign for more number of days,” said Santosh Kumar, city magistrate and the returning officer.

The 14 candidates include Singh Raj from the Samajwadi Party, Ravi Kumar from the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, Sanjeev Sharma from the Bharatiya Janata Party, and Satyapal Chaudhary from the Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram), among others.

According to the latest revision, there are 461,644 voters in the assembly seat, the returning officer said.

Ghaziabad district has 119 polling centres and 506 polling booths. Four zonal magistrates and 22 sector magistrates were deployed on duty besides 16 other senior officials assigned different poll related work.