Ranchi: State Election Commission today declared 23rd June as the day for the election of Mayor of Ranchi Municipal Corporation. Counting of votes will take place on 27th June. This was informed by the state Election Commissioner Shiv Basant. He said the notification regarding nominations will be published by the district Returning officer cum deputy commissioner in Form 5 on 28th May.
The Election Commissioner said around 7.12 lakh voters will elect the Mayor of Ranchi. The election of Mayor will take place on the basis of the voters� list prepared during the Lok Sabha election held recently. The nomination forms will be filled from 29th May till 4th June. Scrutiny of forms will take place on 5th June. Nominations may be withdrawn till 6th June and election symbols will be allotted on 7th June.
The election procession will be completed by 29th June. Voting will take place from 7 am till 5 pm through electronic voting machine (EVM). There will be provision to opt for NOTA (none of the above) for the voters in this election as per the directive of Supreme Court.
The Election Commissioner said there are 3.80 lakh male voters and 3.31 lakh female voters. A total of 901 polling booths have been set for the purpose of Mayor�s election in Ranchi.
In order to keep peace during polling, around 3600 police personnel will be pressed into service at various booths. Around 1521 lathi-armed cops and 2100 armed cops will be deployed on election duty. Besides, there will be 4500 election duty staff to complete the polling process.
The deputy commissioner of Ranchi Vinay Kumar Choubey said the employees of Central government, banks and universities and women will not be deployed on election duty.
The Mayor�s election was cancelled last year after recovery of several lakhs in cash from the possession of supporters of one of the candidates. The post of Mayor has been consequently lying vacant for the last one year. The deputy Mayor has been functioning as the Mayor in-charge.
