Fate of 7,438 candidates in fray for 12 ZPs and 125 PSs to be locked today in EVMs

Kolhapur: The fate of 2,624 candidates contesting 731 seats across 12 zilla parishads and 4,814 aspirants vying for 1,462 seats in 125 panchayat samitis in Maharashtra will be sealed in electronic voting machines on Saturday.State Election Commission said 2.08 crore voters were eligible to vote in the elections. A significant number of voters have duplicate names or entries in the ZP electoral rolls. For example, Pune Zilla Parishad has around 67,000 such duplicate entries, while Sangli ZP rolls contain nearly 60,000 such names. Election officials said voters with duplicate entries, marked by two asterisks next to their names, would be permitted to vote only once. Such voters would also be asked to submit an undertaking confirming they did not vote in recently held Nagar Parishad, Nagar Panchayat or municipal corporation elections, they said."There is a possibility that voters who participated in other recent elections may attempt to vote again in the ZP and panchayat samiti polls. SEC has directed us to cross-check and remove duplicate names appearing in both municipal corporation and ZP rolls, but the task remains incomplete," an election official said.The three-tier Panchayati Raj system — ZP at the district level, panchayat samiti at the block level and gram panchayat at the village level — was first introduced by Rajasthan in 1959 and later adopted by other states. Maharashtra implemented the system in 1961 through the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act. These rural bodies play a vital role in village-level development and are politically significant as many grassroots party workers begin their careers here before rising to prominent positions, including ministerial or chief ministerial roles.SEC has introduced coloured ballots for these elections — white for ZP candidates and pink for panchayat samiti aspirants. Each voter must cast two votes — one for a ZP representative and one for a panchayat samiti representative. For most of the 12 ZPs, these elections are being held after a four-year gap.District authorities have declared a public holiday for schools on polling day as headmasters, teachers, supervisors and non-teaching staff have been assigned election duties. The sale of liquor is prohibited on polling day and on the day of vote counting, scheduled for Monday.Prohibitory orders will be enforced within a 200-metre radius of polling stations. The use of cellphones inside booths is strictly banned.Election staff have departed for their respective polling stations, with teams assigned to remote booths leaving earlier than others. These teams have been equipped with communication devices to stay connected with the nearest election office in case of emergencies.As per SEC directives, district administrations have deployed medical teams at polling stations. Ambulances will also be on standby to transport poll staff to the nearest hospitals in case of medical emergencies.