Village council polls announced in Mizoram

Aizawl, August 5 (PTI): The village and local council elections will be held in Mizoram on August 27, the state election commission announced on Wednesday. The elections to 558 village councils, barring three Autonomous District Council (ADC) areas in two districts, and 83 local councils in Aizawl Municipal Corporation (AMC) area will be held on the same day, state election commissioner Laima Chozah said.

Though the term of the village councils was due to expire on May 7 it was extended twice till September 7 due to the outbreak of COVID-19, he said.

Polling for the village council seats will be held in nine districts - Aizawl, Lunglei, Serchhip, Champhai, Mamit, Kolasib, Saitual, Khawzawl and Hnahthial.

Bypoll to Siaha North-1 seat in Mara Autonomous District Council (MADC) will be held on August 26, Chozah said.

The last date for filing nomination for the village and local councils polls is August 11 while the last date for withdrawal of candidature is August 13, he said.

Scrutiny of nomination papers will be done after 3 pm on August 11 and counting of votes will begin as soon as polling gets over on August 27.

Re-poll, if required, will be held on August 28, Chozah said.

The last date for filing nomination papers for the bypoll is on August 19 and scrutiny of the nomination papers will be held on the same day.

The last date for withdrawal of candidature is on August 20 and counting of votes will be taken up on August 28.

There are 4,54,180 voters in 558 village councils and 2,18,758 voters in 83 local councils, the state election commissioner said.

Of the 2,464 seats in village councils, 633 are reserved for women, he said. As many as 148 seats are reserved for women out of the 545 local council seats, Chozah said.

A total of 1,627 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to elect their representative in the bypoll to Siaha North-I seat in MADC, the state election commissioner said.

The commission will issue standard operating procedure and safety protocol to be followed during polling in view of the pandemic, state election commission secretary Teresy Vanlalhruaii said.