Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Aizawl to conduct civic polls in October

Aizawl, Aug 26 : The first election to the 19-ward Aizawl Municipal Council is likely to be held in the third week of October, according to a senior official source in the Mizoram government’s local administration department.

He said today over phone from Aizawl that the total number of voters in the hill-top capital city is 169,072.

The final electoral roll for the municipal council was published in the second week of June this year.

Sources said ward 18 in the southern part of the city will have the largest number of voters at 13,291 while Chandmari in the northern part of the city has the lowest at 6,100.

Of the 19 seats, six will be reserved for women candidates.

Aizawl town, with 11 Assembly constituencies, and its fringe areas had earlier been under the jurisdiction of the village councils.

In the last Assembly polls held in December 2008, the Congress, now in power in Mizoram, romped home bagging eight out of the total 11 seats in Aizawl city and its fringes, which comprise Aizawl municipality areas.

The other three seats were won by the Zomi National Party and Mizoram People’s Conference.

The Congress is hoping to wrest the maximum number of seats in the maiden poll for the Aizawl municipality.