Mangaluru: Deputy Commissioner AB Ibrahim held a press meet at the DC office here, on January 30.
Addressing the mediapersons, Ibrahim said, “The election notification will be given on February 1 and the last day to submit the nomination is February 8. The nominations will be verified on February 9 and the last day to withdraw the nomination is February 11. The election will be held on February 20 from morning 7 am to 5 pm in the evening. The counting of the votes will be done on February 23.”
Ibrahim said that there will be 1166 polling booths set up for the elections. All Zilla Panchayats and Taluk Panchayats will have an Election Officer along with an Assistant Election Officer to conduct the elections. The state government has also appointed Basavraj H and SB Bomanalli as Observers during the elections. The district administration will appoint Nodal Officers and Sector Officers. “This time None Of The Above (NOTA) will also feature in the voting list along with a symbol of NOTA,” Ibrahim added.
“The nominations for the elections will be accepted from February 1 and those who wish to submit nominations, they can do so by submitting the form 4 available at the Gram Panchayat. As specified by the State Election Commission, the applicant has to file an affidavit specifying the assets owned by them and their family members on a stamp paper worth Rs 20,” Ibrahim said.
Ibrahim further said, “The candidates belonging to backward class category A & B have to submit a note attested by the Tahsildar. However, backward candidature of category B candidate will be accepted only if they qualify with the following criteria. They should not be employed in a government office in class 1 and class 2 posts with monthly wage between Rs 21400 to Rs 40050 or be employed in a public sector with a similar pay, they should file their income tax returns and should be paying taxes and they should not have land holdings of more than 8 hectares or 20 acres.”
“Candidates of ZP elections can spend Rs 1 lakh towards propaganda and candidates of TP elections can spend upto Rs 50000. Candidates should present their expenses to the Observers before the elections,” Ibrahim said.
Speaking about shifting the DC office to a new location, Ibrahim said, “The government has already sanctioned Rs 41 crore for this purpose. We had submitted a proposal to chop the trees at the new location in September last year to the Green Tribunal based in Chennai. After the review and meeting the criteria the tribunal has given us the nod.” He said that the 5 acres 89 cents plot was in Padil.
ADC Kumar and representatives of political parties were also present.
After the meeting a two minute silence was observed to mark the 68th death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The entire staff of the DC Office also participated.
