Candidates for Patna Municipal Corporation election attend a meeting with the district administration on Sunday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

The district election officials’ bid to teach future councillors of Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) a lesson or two on election rules evoked a lukewarm response as very few contestants attended the “class” on Sunday.

Though there are about 630 candidates in the poll fray for 71 wards of the corporation, not even one third of them showed up for the meeting. The fate of a ward has already been decided with Vinay Kumar Pappu — the lone candidate from ward number 28 — being declared winner unopposed.

Many candidates said with only four days to go for the elections — Patna goes to the polls on May 17 — they had rather chosen to focus on campaigning instead of attending the meeting.

“Campaigning ends on Tuesday evening. We cannot waste time by attending a meeting called at the eleventh hour. The meeting should have been convened at least a week ahead of the election,” said a contestant from ward number 30.

Many others complained that they had not even been intimated about the meeting. Aruna Rai, who is trying her luck from ward number 65, was one such candidate.

“I was busy meeting residents in my ward the entire day today and listening to their complaints and expectations. No body from district administration had informed me about the meeting, otherwise, being a law abiding citizen and aspiring councillor, I would have definitely attended it,” she said.

District poll officials — including returning officers and their assistants who had to take the class — said the aim of the meeting was to apprise the candidates about the need to stick to the model code of conduct as laid down by the state election commission.

“The code of conduct for the PMC polls requires the candidates to end their campaign on Tuesday evening. Also, they are entitled to use only a light motor vehicle on the polling day. There are certain other guidelines about their conduct while moving in and around polling booths and counting stations. As many of the candidates fighting the polls are new, it was important to make them aware about the norms and guidelines,” returning officer Arvind Kumar Tiwari said.

On why the meeting was convened two days before the campaign ends, Tiwari said it was supposed to be held earlier. “However, the meeting had to be postponed to ensure that all candidates were informed,” he added.

In the meantime, the administrative officials held a camp in the slum area of Yaarpur locality in ward number 19 on Sunday and distributed voter identity cards among the residents. The camp was held following instructions of the election commission to encourage slum dwellers to participate in the poll process.