Poll panel relaxes code of conduct in corporation areas

NASHIK: The code of conduct enforced in municipal councils will no longer be applicable for municipal corporations. This was conveyed through a letter by the state election commission late on Wednesday evening.
The relaxation of the code of conduct comes as a major respite for the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) and the citizens as the civic body will now be able to carry out development projects that were feared to be held up because of the earlier rule.
According to a letter on October 17, the code of conduct in four or more places of the district would also be applicable for the municipal corporation. The code of conduct was enforced from Monday in Bhagur, Sinnar, Yeola, Nandgaon, Satana and Manmad for the municipal council elections scheduled on November 27. As these talukas came under Nashik district, the code of conduct was to be enforced for the NMC as well.
On Wednesday evening, deputy secretary of the state election commission D M Kanade wrote to the revenue commissioners, district collector and municipal commissioner, stating that the rules have been relaxed for municipal corporations so that development works do not suffer.
"We have been informed that the rules have been relaxed and that now the code of conduct for November 27 will be applicable to only those talukas, gram panchayats, panchayat samiti, municipal councils where the elections are scheduled. We can carry out our projects," municipal commissioner Abhishek Krishna said.
Important projects such as property survey, tree census, tree plantation, garden maintenance and Smart City that were feared to take backseat due to the earlier rule can now be carried out. Managing and maintaining compost plant on DFBOT basis, new system of garbage collection and auto DCR can be carried out if the work order is given before the code of conduct for municipal corporations.