EC to finalise new election procedure by November 15

THANE: The state Election Commission (EC) is likely to finalize the new poll procedure for the forthcoming Thane civic polls and present the final ward limits by November 15 .
Nearly, 118 objections mostly related to confusions arising out of redrawn ward limits were presented before a panel headed by principal secretary, agriculture Vijay Kumar and municipal commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal along with senior officials.
The team representing the EC also toured several parts of the city including Kopri, Kolshet, Vartak nagar following the meeting on Friday evening to ascertain the allegations of violations in marking wards as per the activists' claims.
NCP city Chief Anand Paranjape said the new plans was in clear contradiction to the state GR on the issue which was released in May this year. Citing few examples, Paranjape says, “The wards had to be redrawn using natural or manmade barriers like highways, creeks, railway lines, etc but ward number 9 that includes parts of Manisha Nagar and Kharegaon stretches way beyond the slow lines of the railway tracks. Also, as per the notification, the last ward will have either three or five seats but in this case, ward number 29 that involves Khardi and parts of Diva has been allocated to have just three seats as against the last ward number 33,” he said.
Activists also questioned the haphazard flow of numbering wards, which ideally had to be done in a continuous flow.
When questioned, Sandeep Malvi refused to comment on the issue saying the corporation wasn’t aut horized to speak on the issue.