Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
The State Election Commission (SEC) on Friday granted final approval to the proposed 29-prabhag structure plan for the upcoming municipal corporation elections. The plan will be published on the municipal corporation’s official website after Saturday for public viewing. The deadline for publication is October 6. Although the prabhag plan has been finalised, all eyes are now on when the reservation draw will be conducted.
This will be the first time municipal corporation elections in the city are held based on the prabhag system. No elections have taken place since 2015. Many aspirants have been waiting for the polls for the past ten years. The term of the municipal corporation body ended in 2020, and elections were expected thereafter. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other reasons, the process kept getting delayed. Recently, the Supreme Court directed that elections be conducted, ordering they be held before January 31, 2026. As a result, the state government and SEC have accelerated preparations.
Following state government directives, a draft prabhag structure was created comprising 28 prabhags with four members each, and one prabhag with three members. A total of 552 objections were filed against the draft. However, only around 250 objectors attended the hearings. Most suggestions and objections pertained to discrepancies in maps and the extent of prabhag boundaries. Accordingly, the Municipal Corporation swung into action and corrected the identified errors in maps and coverage areas. The SEC has now given final approval to the prabhag structure. The final plan must be published between October 3 and 6, and the municipal corporation is expected to release it on its website on Saturday or Sunday.