9,199 candidates in fray for 10 municipal corporation seats

Mumbai: As many as 9,199 candidates are in fray for the 1,268 seats in 10 municipal corporations including Mumbai, elections for which are to be held on February 21. While for the first phase of 15 Zilla Parishad and 165 Panchayat Samiti polls, 4,278 and 7,693 candidates respectively will be contesting the polls, the State Election Commission said in a statement here.

Elections are being held for the first phase on February 16 for 855 seats in 15 Zilla Parishads and 1,712 seats in 165 Panchayat Samitis falling under the jurisdiction of the 15 districts going to polls, it said. The second phase of 11 Zilla Parishads and 118 Panchayat Samiti elections will be held on February 21. Gadchiroli district will go to polls in both phases. In the first phase, 8 Panchayat Samitis will vote, while in the second phase four samitis will vote, said the release.

Counting of votes will be taken up on February 23. For the second phase, 6,367 candidates are in fray after scrutiny of papers for 654 seats in 11 Zilla Parishads, said the Election Commission release. While for 1,288 seats in 118 Panchayat Samitis 10,879 nominations have been found valid after scrutiny. The clear picture will be available for second phase after the last date of withdrawal this week, the election commission said.