As per calendar of events announced by the State Election Commission, Deputy Commissioner of Dharwad Nitesh Patil will issue the election notification for conducting elections to 82 wards of Hubballi Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) on Monday.
Addressing presspersons in Dharwad on Sunday, Mr. Nitesh Patil said that with the election notification, the model code of conduct will come into force on Monday and so also the process of filing nomination papers.
Giving details about the arrangements made for smooth conduct of the election process, Mr. Patil said that for the benefit of candidates in the twin cities, single-window systems — one each in Hubballi and Dharwad — will be opened and adequate staff and officials deputed.
After delimitation, the number of wards in the twin cities has now increased to 82 from 67. The municipal corporation now has 8,11,537 eligible voters. Among them 4.03 lakh are male and 4.07 lakh female voters.
The Deputy Commissioner clarified that candidates will be allowed to file their nomination papers on Monday, soon after the election notification is officially issued.
As per the calendar of events, August 23 is the last date to file nomination papers. Scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on August 24. And, August 26 is the deadline for withdrawal of nomination papers and polling, if required, will be conducted on September 3.
Mr. Patil said that in case of technical issues or any other problem, re-polling will be held on September 5 and counting of votes will be taken up on September 6. He said that 16 election officers and 16 assistant election officers will be deployed to conduct the elections in a free and fair manner.
To make it easy for candidates and also to ensure that there is no rush, the administration will set up five nomination paper filing centres each on the corporation premises in Hubballi and Dharwad and also at Ambedkar Bhavan in Navanagar.
The Deputy Commissioner said that the model code of conduct will be in place till September 6 and already, a meeting of political party leaders has been conducted to sensitise them about the model code and other guidelines.
Mr. Patil said that in all, 837 polling stations will be set up and EVMs will be used for polling. However, there will be no VVPATs this time, he said.
The Deputy Commissioner said that the general public can call telephone numbers 0836-2213888, 2213869 and 2213889 for any poll-related complaints.
