Chandigarh: The elections for the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation will be held here on Friday, it was announced Thursday. About 6.3 lakh voters including three lakh women are eligible to cast votes.
Officials said all necessary arrangements including those related to security have been made to ensure smooth polling. The number of wards has increased from 26 in 2016 to 35 now and 694 polling booths have been set up.
Over 3,000 policemen will be on duty to enforce tight security arrangements. The poll timings will be from 7.30 am to 5 pm. There are 203 candidates in the fray whose electoral fate will be declared on December 27.
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Traditionally, the municipal election - held every five years - sees a locking of horns between the BJP and the Congress, but with the entry of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the contest this time will be three-cornered.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) holds majority in the current House. In the last MC elections, BJP had won 20 seats and its erstwhile ally Shiromani Akali Dal won one. Congress had managed to win only four seats. The BJP is fighting election on plank of its achievements in past five years.
On the other hand, Congress and AAP have targeted the BJP for allegedly failing to undertake development work and have criticised it over city going down in the Swachh Survekshan' (a ranking for cleanliness) rankings. The two parties also targeted BJP for not resolving the issue of Dadumajra dumping ground and also raised issues like rise in prices of essential commodities.
PTI
