E-Paper
State election authority puts local body bypolls in Maharashtra on hold
The state election commission (SEC) has put the local body by-elections in five districts on hold in the wake of the potential third wave of Covid-19 and the fear of the Delta Plus variant driving it
The state election commission (SEC) has put the local body by-elections in five districts on hold in the wake of the potential third wave of Covid-19 and the fear of the Delta Plus variant driving it.
The decision was announced on Friday, after the Supreme Court (SC) directed SEC to take a call on the postponement of the bypolls by reviewing the pandemic situation in the five districts.
The bypolls were necessitated after the SC scrapped the political reservation to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) in local body elections in March. SEC had announced that 70 electoral divisions in five district councils and 130 electoral groups in 33 panchayat samitis would go for the by-elections on July 19.
After the state government moved SC for the deferment of the bypolls citing the pandemic situation, the Apex court directed the election authority to take an appropriate decision. After a high-level meeting with state government officials on Thursday, SEC on Friday announced the deferment.
