Himachal Pradesh to hold various civic bodies polls on April 7

The Himachal Pradesh Election Commission on Saturday declared the poll schedule for civic body elections for four Municipal Corporations and six Nagar Panchayats. The elections will take place on April 7 between 8 am and 4 pm.

The schedule for elections to Municipal Corporations of Dharamsala, Palampur, Mandi and Solan was announced today. The 5-year term of Dharamsala Municipal Corporation will be completed on April 7, while the three Municipal Councils - Palampur, Mandi and Solan, which were recently upgraded as Municipal Corporations- will see their first elections as corporations.

With the announcement of the municipal elections, the model code of conduct has come to force in the territorial jurisdictions of the municipal bodies and Nagar Panchayats with immediate effect.

This is for the first time at the BJP-led Himachal Pradesh government is holding civic bodies elections on party symbol with provision for disqualification in case of defection. The Bill, making provision for polls on party symbol and anti-defection, was passed in the state Assembly recently by the government.

As per the poll schedule issued by the state election commission, the nominations will be filed on March 22, 23 and 24 while the scrutiny of papers will take place on March 27. The withdrawal of nomination can be done on March 27. The counting of votes will take place on April 7 itself, the day of the polling.

Similarly, the elections to the six Nagar Panchayats that include Ani and Nirmand in Kullu, Kandaghat in Solan, Chirgaon and Nerwa in Shimla and Amb in Una will be held on April 7.

The nominations will be filed from March 22 to March 24 and be scrutinised on March 25 while the date of withdrawal of the nominations is till March 27. The counting of votes will be counted immediately after polling closes on April 7, an official spokesperson of the state election commission informed.