AMC to conduct elections of 115 wards!

- The programme to declare social reservation of wards through lots on August 5 is likely to be cancelled.

Lokmat News Network

Aurangabad, Aug 3:

In a political twist, the Shinde-Fadnavis-led state government today surprised by cancelling the decision taken by the past Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by the former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, of increasing the corporators in the municipal corporations.

Henceforth, the AMC, acting upon the orders of the MVA government, has restructured 115 wards and increased the numbers to 126 wards.

The Shinde-Fadnavis government decided to conduct the election considering the population figure of the city in 2017 as a base. The cabinet meeting also prescribed the parameters. It stated that there will be 115 wards in the municipal corporations having 12 lakh population, while there one member each on additional 40,000 population. As per the government, the population of AMC is considered to be 12.28 lakh. Hence it is clear that the elections will be held for 115 wards only (not 126 wards).

According to sources in the State Election Commission and the AMC, there is a possibility that the old prabhag (with a cluster of three wards) will be scrapped and it would be a cluster of four wards. If this happened then there will be 28 prabhags (with four wards) and one prabhag with three wards. There would be a total of 29 prabhags. However, it would take another two to three months to complete the whole process. If this happens then the AMC elections may be held in October-November. Hence the civic elections are likely to be postponed once again, they said.

Rehearsal of Aug 5

The schedule of the programme to draw the lots to declare social reservation of seats for women candidates is fixed to be held on August 5. The rehearsal of the same was held at Sant Eknath Rangmandir (in Osmanpura) today. Meanwhile, the draw is likely to be cancelled due to the latest decision taken by the cabinet today. The AMC administrator Abhijeet Chaudhari, deputy commissioner Santosh Tengale, deputy director (town planning) A B Deshmukh and others were present at the rehearsal.

Change in traffic route

The draw will be held at Sant Eknath Rangmandir (in Osmanpura) on August 5 at 11 am. The programme is expected to be attended by a large number of former corporators, office-bearers, activists and workers of different political parties and citizens. Hence the route from Gopal Tea House to Utsav Mangal Karyalay will be closed for traffic on Friday from 9 am to 7 pm. The vehicle owners should take note of the change in traffic routes. They can use an alternate route (Gopal Tea, Peer Bazaar Chowk, Bhajiwali Bai statue and ahead or they drive from Ramanagar to Bhajiwali Bai statue and proceed further, said the assistant commissioner (traffic branch) Vishal Dhume through a press release.