LIVE: Election of Punjab District Council and Panchayat Samiti

LIVE: Election of Punjab District Council and Panchayat Samiti

New Delhi / Chandigarh: The counting of votes for elections of Punjab Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti has been continuing since Saturday morning. Extensive arrangements for security have been made at the voting centres. 11 counting centres have been set up in Jalandhar. More than 900 police personnel have been deployed here.

Under this election, as many as 354 Zilla council councils and 2,900 members will be elected for Panchayat Samiti. There are 22 District Councils and 150 Panchayat Samities in the State. There are 12787395 voters registered. There are 609,953 women and 97 third gender votes.

Before that, the voting was held between the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Congress workers and the allegations of rigging in the elections. The opposition Akali Dal has accused Congress of "capturing booths, making false voting and using force". Although the ruling party of the state dismissed these allegations and claimed that the voting was "free and fair".

PUCSC Elections likely to be held on September 6

PUCSC Elections likely to be held on September 6 

Panjab University Campus Students Council or PUCSC is Students' union consisting of the departmental representatives and other office bearers i.e. President, Vice-President, Secretary and Joint-Secretary along with 114 Departmental Representatives (DRs) directly elected by the students from the various teaching departments on the Panjab University, Chandigarh campus. Further, these elected office-bearers and department representatives elect the remaining five members of the executive of the Council. The Dean Student Welfare is ex officio Chairman of the Council. Elections are held every year in August–September months. There is ban on property defacement for clean elections.

The Chandigarh police have finalized September 6 as the date of Panjab University Campus Student Council (PUCSC) elections. Following this, a meeting chaired by dean student welfare (DSW) Prof Emanual Nahar was held to decide the election schedule on Saturday.

However, official communication by the UT Administration of Punjab University has not yet been received, which is keen to hold elections on 6th September. What are the elections held on September 6, the nomination will be filed on August 30.

Sources said that while the date pushed by the university authorities was September 7, the UT administration wants the polls to be held on September 6 since the Haryana Vidhan Sabha session is set to begin on September 7 at Chandigarh. Moreover, the Chandigarh police suggested the date after the meeting with student leaders and DSP (central). The students had suggested in the meeting that the elections should be held mid-week so that the polling percentage does not dip.

"The date of student council elections will be declared on Monday after receiving the official communication from the UT administration and the schedule would also be announced on the same day," a university official said.

As per sources, since Janamashtmi holiday falls on September 3, the students wanted that the elections should be conducted in a way that the outstation campus students stay back throughout the polling.

During the Saturday meeting, the schedule was made considering September 6 as the election date. As per that schedule, the student parties will have to file nomination on August 30. This will be followed by the scrutiny, display of list of candidates on notice boards of the departments concerned, filing of objections and sending provisional list of candidates and objections, if any to the DSW office. The list of approved candidates would be released on August 31 and the withdrawals would take place on the same day.

SOURCE: THE TIMES OF INDIA