Kodagu district is gearing up for the zilla and taluk panchayat elections, after the MLC elections.

The elections for the 29 zilla panchayat and 50 taluk panchayat seats will be conducted on February 20, while the results will be out on February 23.

The district has 29 zilla panchayat seats. Madikeri, Somwarpet and Virajpet taluks have seven, 11 and 11 constituencies, respectively. The number of taluk panchayat seats has been hiked by one – Hoddur being the new constituency – making it 50 this time. There are 12, 19 and 19 taluk panchayat constituencies in Madikeri, Somwarpet and Virajpet taluks, respectively.

There are a total of 3,76,065 voters in the district – 1,86,643 men and 1,89,422 women voters. Madikeri has 88,745 voters – 44,396 are men and 44,349 are women. Somwarpet has 1,45,078 voters – 71,459 are men and 73,619 are women, while in Virajpet taluk, there are 1,42,242 voters – 70,788 are men, 71,454 are women.

Option of NOTA

For the first time, the option of NOTA (None Of The Above) has been given to voters in zilla and taluk panchayat elections. It may be recalled that nobody in the district had opted for it during the recently concluded MLC elections.

In the current elections, however, the candidate may contest under the name of a political party and symbol. Electronic voting machines will be used for the polls.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> District / by Srikant Kallammanavan / DHNS, Madikeri – January 21st, 2016