The Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) on Friday, November 20 said it will announce a fresh schedule for the elections of 1,566 Gram Panchayats in the state as it had cancelled the earlier time-table due to the pandemic.
Chief Election Commissioner UPS Madan said that the election program for the general elections of the Gram Panchayats in 19 districts of Maharashtra was announced on February 24, 2020. Accordingly, elections were to be held on March 31, 2020, however, due to the sudden outbreak of COVID19 crisis, the elections were postponed on March 17, 2020 during the scrutiny of candidature applications.
According to sources, the state cabinet, earlier this year, had given its nod to the issuance of an ordinance to appoint administrators to 1,566 gram panchayats whose term ended in March. In the view of COVID19 pandemic, that schedule had been suspended but now it stands cancelled, he said.
"As the schedule has been cancelled, a fresh time-table and voters'' list will be announced later," Chief Election Commissioner of Maharashtra, UPS Madan, added.
Earlier, in June, the SEC had stayed elections to 12,668 gram panchayats in the state which were to take place later this year. The state cabinet had also decided to appoint administrators to gram panchayats where elections could not be held due to the coronavirus. The elections to village bodies were to be held between July and December.
Share
Tweet
