Ajit Pawar death: Maharashtra ZP, Panchayat Samiti polls to be held as scheduled despite state mourning
Ajit Pawar (66) and four other persons on board a chartered aircraft were killed after it crashed barely 200 metres from the edge of a tabletop runway at Baramati airport in Pune district on Wednesday morning.
Even as the whole nation is in shock and grief after the death of Ajit Pawar in a plane crash, Maharashtra Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections will be geld as scheduled on February 5 despite the state mourning, State Election Commission said on Wednesday.
There is no provision to cancel or defer elections: EC
"The declaration of official mourning will have no bearing on the ongoing election process. There is no provision to cancel or defer elections due to the death of a constitutional authority during the poll period," the EC sources explained.
Ajit Pawar (66) and four other persons on board a chartered aircraft were killed after it crashed barely 200 metres from the edge of a tabletop runway at Baramati airport in Pune district on Wednesday morning.
His sudden death has not only left a vacuum in the BJP-led state coalition government, but also cast a shadow on the future of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which he headed.
Three-day mourning in the state will end on January 30
Pawar's death led to speculation in political circles as well as in general public on whether the polls would be held on schedule. The three-day mourning in the state will end on January 30, six days ahead of voting.
According to EC sources, this is a rare instance of the death of a senior constitutional functionary during election period, but laws do not provide for cancellation of polls on such grounds.
They insisted that if a district collector feels that changing the polling date is necessary in public interest such a change can be made only in accordance with directions issued by the SEC.
The laws also allow a change in polling date if period of national or state-level mourning coincides with polling date, the sources noted, adding no such situation exists at present in the state. Elections to 125 Panchayat Samitis and 12 Zilla Parishads (ZPs) will be held on February 5 and votes will be counted two days later.
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