According to preliminary estimates of the State Election Commission, around 81 per cent and 73 per cent voter turnout was recorded in 336 seats in 93 Nagar Panchayats and 45 seats in two Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis, respectively, in the state. Counting of votes will take place on Wednesday.
In November last year, the State Election Commission had announced that elections to 106 Nagar Panchayats, Bhandara and Gondia Zilla Parishads and 15 Panchayat Samitis under them would be held on December 21, 2021.
However, the election schedule was partially changed following a Supreme Court order on December 15, asking the SEC to convert OBC seats to open category and conduct elections in the ongoing local body elections. While voting was held on December 21 for 73 per cent seats, voting was held on Tuesday to convert 27 per cent of OBC seats to open category.
While OBC seats were reserved in local bodies by the SEC, the Supreme Court on December 6 stayed it, saying OBC reservation cannot be given unless the state government fulfills three conditions – empirical data Constitution of a dedicated commission to collect Specifying the proportion of OBC population, reservation and ensuring that the cumulative share of reserved seats does not violate 50 per cent of the total seats.
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