EC orders voter list check, Maha local polls likely in Dec

Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer S Chokkalingam ordered district collectors on Saturday to investigate discrepancies in voters lists to conduct local civic body elections and submit a report by next week, after which a copy of this report will be given to Maharashtra opposition party leaders.

- STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE

Aninquiry will be conducted into how names of voters appeared in two places in the same constituency and action will be taken against officials found guilty, sources said.

It may be recalled that recently, the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) opposition alliance had presented evidence to the Maharashtra State Election Commission that 200 voters were found listed with the same house address in Nagpur. The MVA opposition had urged the Maharashtra State Election Commission not to hold local body elections with defective voters’ lists.

“Local civic body elections were not held for the last five years. So what difference does it make if the elections are postponed for another six months,” Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray had said, demanding that local civic body elections must be postponed as long as voters lists are not rectified.