Nominations for urban and rural local body polls can be filed offline: Maharashtra SEC

Mumbai, Dec 12 (PTI) Candidates contesting the upcoming municipal corporation, zilla parishad and panchayat samiti polls in Maharashtra will be permitted to file their nomination papers offline, State Election Commissioner (SEC) Dinesh Waghmare said on Friday.

Waghmare said offline filing of nominations had earlier been allowed for municipal council and nagar panchayat polls, held on December 2, following requests from candidates and political parties.

He was speaking at a meeting of representatives of recognised political parties organised at the State Election Commission (SEC) office.

SEC secretary Suresh Kakani, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) additional commissioner Ashwini Joshi and officials from several civic bodies attended the meeting, an official release said.

"This option (offline nomination filing) will now be available for municipal corporations, zilla parishads and panchayat samitis as well," Waghmare said.

As many as 336 panchayat samitis, 29 municipal corporations, including the Mumbai civic body, 32 zilla parishads are due for elections before January 31. However, voting and counting dates are yet to be announced.

On the issue of suspected duplicate voters, Waghmare said municipal commissioners and district collectors have been instructed to carry out verification.

The BMC has developed a dedicated software tool to identify possible duplicate entries, supplemented by door-to-door checks by field staff, noted the IAS officer.

He said voters can search their names in rolls through the SEC's designated website, and the 'Matadhikar' mobile app launched by the commission. PTI MR RSY