Dhanbad Municipal Corporation (DMC) election, which is likely to be held in the last week of May, will get a taste of technology this time. For, residents will for the first time elect their councillors and mayor by casting their votes through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
Divulging details, additional district magistrate (supply) Anil Kumar Singh, who is also the senior election in-charge officer, said, "EVMs are being introduced for the first time in the civic polls to ensure free and fair election. Till the last election that was held in 2010, voters used the cast their votes on ballot papers."
The election process is both direct and indirect.
Each voter will have to cast his/her vote in two EVMs separately - one for the local councillor and other to elect the mayor. The 55 elected councillors then will elect the deputy mayor.
The district authorities are busy preparing for the upcoming polls. Civic officials have already been entrusted with poll tasks. For instance, DMC additional collector Manoj Kumar had been appointed as the returning officer while Govindpur circle officer Prem Kumar Tiwari and his Tundi counterpart Ram Naresh Soni had been appointed as assistant returning officers.
Around 7.58 lakh residents will cast their votes in altogether 907 booths across 55 wards. A revised electoral list for each of the 55 wards was published on Friday night after making the necessary corrections.
The 22 urban settlements and 258 villages that fall under the DMC are divided into five circles - Jharia, Dhanbad, Sindri, Katras and Chatatand. Each of these circles has 11 wards. Of these, the state election commission had announced 26 wards to be reserved for women- 14 for general category, eight for scheduled caste and four for scheduled tribe.
The reservations were made in accordance with the rules prescribed by Jharkhand Municipal Act, 2011, and the 2011 census.
However, a five-member delegation of DMC councillors met Dhanbad deputy commissioner Kripanand Jha on Saturday to protest against reservation of seats. They have now decided to challenge it in court, alleging that reservations were not done by following the proper procedure.
