The Maharashtra State Election Commission has announced elections to 12 Zilla Parishads and 125 Panchayat Samitis, which will be held on February 7 in districts where caste-based reservations are within the 50 per cent limit. The announcement comes shortly after the completion of municipal council and municipal corporation polls in the state.
Voting will take place between 7:30 am and 5:30 pm, while the counting of votes has been scheduled for February 9. The elections were earlier fixed for February 5, with results expected on February 7, but were postponed following the untimely death of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in a plane crash.
The elections will be held in 12 districts across three divisions: Konkan division, Pune division and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar division.
The districts in the aforementioned divisions, where the polling would take place include, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Pune, Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Kolhapur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Parbhani, Dharashiv and Latur.
About Kolhapur district
Kolhapur is one of the key districts where voting will take place. It falls under the Pune division. As of 2017 polls, there were 67 Zilla Parishad seats in Kolhapur.
Besides, there were 134 seats across 12 Panchayat Samitis. These Panchayat Samitis include Shahuwadi, Panhala, Hatkanangale, Shirol, Kagal, Karvir, Gaganbawda, Radhanagari, Bhudargad, Ajara, Gadhinglaj and Chandgad.
What happened in Kolhapur in 2017?
The politics in Maharashtra has completely changed since 2017, following the split of two major political parties– Shiv Sena (SS) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). In 2017, United NCP contested in coalition with the Congress and Peasants and Workers Party of India(PWP).
United Shiv Sena contested this election in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Kolhapur witnessed 76.98 per cent voting in 2017.
Panchayat Samitis (134 seats)
Party-wise seats tally
BSP- 1
BJP- 14
Congress- 31
United NCP- 24
United Shiv Sena- 22
Independent/Others- 42
Zilla Parishad (67 seats)
Party-wise seats tally
BJP- 14
Congress- 14
United NCP- 11
United Shiv Sena- 10
Others/Independent- 18
