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Civic elections to be held on party basis

Special Correspondent

Chairmen, councillors will be directly elected: State Election Commission

PONDICHERRY: The chairmen and members of the Pondicherry, Oulgaret, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam municipalities will be elected directly by the people, while the vice-chairmen will be elected indirectly by the councillors, according to K. Uthaman, Officer on Special Duty of the State Election Commission.

Mr. Uthaman told mediapersons here on Thursday that the municipal chairmen and councillors would be elected on party basis. The Commission had finalised the list of political parties for the purpose. All political parties registered and recognised by the Election Commission would be allowed to contest with their party symbols.

Elections for a total 1,138 seats in municipalities, commune and village panchayats would be held in three phases on June 24 and 27 and on July 1. The elections are being held after a gap of 38 years.

Eligibility

Mr. Uthaman said that a candidate for the post of chairman or councillor should be a voter in any of the wards of the municipality concerned. A candidate for the post of chairman should have attained the age of 25, while for the post of councillor it is 21. A candidate for the post of councillor would not be eligible to contest for the chairman's post and vice versa.

The voters would cast two votes, for the chairman and councillor. The two ballot papers would be in different colours: pink for the chairman and white for the councillor.

Candidates contesting for the chairman's post would have to pay a deposit of Rs. 3000 (general) and Rs. 1500 (Scheduled Caste). Those contesting for the councillor's seat should deposit Rs. 1,000 (general) and Rs. 500 (SC) while submitting the nomination papers.

Mr. Uthaman said candidates for the chairman's post should not incur expenditure beyond Rs. 15 lakh (Pondicherry municipality), Rs. 10 lakh (Oulgaret), while the ceiling on expenditure is Rs. 7 lakh for Karaikal municipality and Rs. 5 lakh each for Mahe and Yanam municipalities.

The ceiling on expenditure for a candidate for the councillor's post could incur is Rs. 1 lakh. The five municipalities contained in Pondicherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam would have a total of 122 councillors. While Pondicherry municipality would have 42 councillors, Oulgaret municipality would have 37, Karaikal 18, Mahe 15 and Yanam 10 councillors.

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