Punjab government announced the civic polls to be held on 17 December for three Municipal Corporations (MCs) of Amritsar, Patiala and Jalandhar on Thursday. As per the schedule declared by Punjab election commission, the polling for three MCs and 32 municipal committees will be held on 17 December followed by counting and announcement of results on the same day. “The candidates can start filing the nomination papers from 2 December.

The last date of nomination filing is 6 December and the scrutiny of nominations will be held on 7 December. The candidates can withdraw their candidatures on 8 Decembers”, said, State Election Commissioner, Jagpal Singh Sandhu, in a press conference. He also said the schedule for the elections of Ludhiana MC will be announced after state government’s notification.

He also said for 60 wards of Patiala, six Returning Officers (ROs) have been appointed while seven ROs will be deputed at 80 wards in Jalandhar followed by eight ROs in Amaritsar for 85 wards. For the first time, the expenditure limits have been increased in the MC polls in Punjab. A candidate can now spend up to Rs 2.50 Lakh against previous limit of Rs 2.07 Lakh.

Those contesting from a ward of the municipal committees coming under class 1 has been fixed at Rs 2.25 Lakh. The municipal committees coming under class 2 would have the expenditure limit of Rs 1.40 Lakh and for those come under class 3 would have to adhere to the expenditure limit of Rs.1.20 Lakh. Similarly, the candidates contesting from any ward of the nagar panchayats would have to observe the expenditure limit of Rs 80,000. This time Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) would be used and the voters would have the option of pressing the NOTA button for the first time.

A total of 3,200 polling stations have been formed for the smooth running of poll process. The voters attaining age of 18 years till 1 January, 2017 are eligible to cast their ballot. A total of 756 polling stations have been set up in Amritsar, 563 in Jalandhar and 254 in Patiala. Those who could not have registered for a voting card can get it till 6 December.