NEW DELHI: With the state election commission issuing a notification announcing the civic elections, the process to file nominations for 250 municipal wards will also start from Monday. According to officials, the offices of 68 returning officers have been set up across the city where citizens keen on contesting the municipal elections can file their nominations. The process, said state election commission officials, will continue for a week, with November 14 being the last day to submit documents. While voting on 250 seats for Municipal Corporation of Delhi will take place on December 4, the counting of votes will take place on December 7. State election commissioner Vijay Kumar Dev said the election process will be completed by December 14. District magistrates of each of the 11 districts have been given the charge of district election officers by the state election commission. Sixty-eight returning officers have been appointed to oversee the nomination process and election work in wards falling in each assembly constituency under the MCD jurisdiction. To help them, the SEC has also appointed 250 assistant returning officers. “Those keen on contesting the election can file their nomination in the office meant for the respective wards between 11am and 3pm on all working days, including Saturday. The aspirant must be 25 years of age and a resident of the same municipal ward where she is interested in contesting the poll,” said an official. The official added that the aspirant will not be allowed to bring any kind of procession or a roadshow within 100 metres of the nomination centre. In the 2017 elections, 2,537 candidates had contested the poll on 272 seats of three civic bodies combined – east, north and south. While 548 candidates had contested for 64 seats of EDMC, 1004 had contested in north corporation and 985 in SDMC on 104 municipal wards respectively. While there are eight national parties, one Delhi state party and about 50-55 other regional parties that are likely to contest the election, the state election commission has kept aside 190 free symbols for state players and independent candidates. The candidates will have to provide information about their education qualification, criminal cases, if any, and details of movable and immovable property of individuals and family members. While the general category candidates will have to deposit a security deposit of Rs 5,000, those belonging to SC community will have to submit Rs 2,500. The scrutiny of papers will take place on November 16 and the candidate can withdraw their papers by November 19.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/delhi-civic-polls-nomination-process-starts-today/articleshow/95343695.cms