AMC Election: SEC submits affidavit in Supreme Court

Aurangabad, Nov 9:

The State Election Commission (SEC) has submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court requesting to lift the stay order granted upon the process of Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) general election. Hence, it is hoped that the final verdict on the petition will be aired soon.

The deputy commissioner (elections) at Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) Santosh Tengale confirmed the development. He said, " The petition challenging delimitation of wards by AMC is in the Supreme Court and is awaiting for the final hearing. Earlier, the Apex Court has issued a 'status quo' on the election process. Hence the SEC has submitted an affidavit requesting the Supreme Court to lift the stay order."

63 women corporators in the new AMC body

As per the latest orders of the Election Commission of India (ECI), 50 per cent reservation is awarded to women candidates in the local self-body. The AMC will be forming 126 wards (through delimitation of the existing 115 wards). Hence, out of 126 wards, 63 wards will be represented by women corporators (as per 50 pc reservation) in the forthcoming elections.

60-70 pc voters in each ward

The 126 wards will be further divided into 42 prabhags. Each prabhag will be a cluster of three wards. It is estimated that the population of each ward will be 9,746, while the population of each prabhag will vary between 26,315 and 32,161. According to Census 2011, there are 2,286 enumeration blocks (EBs). Hence the new wards and prabhags will be formed out of them only. The population of the city as per the Census 2011 is 12.28 lakh and the strength of voters is 9.39 lakh. The administration is considering a 10 per cent rise in voters' strength. Henceforth, out of the total population in each ward, there will be 60-70 per cent voters, said Tengale.