Gandhinagar: The Gujarat government has today announced that it has decided to conduct elections in nine APMCs, while the tenure of 15 others has been extended by six months due to administrative reasons, including revision of voter lists.

Providing details, Agriculture and Cooperation Minister Jitu Vaghani said the Department of Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Cooperation has directed the Director of Agriculture Market and Rural Economy to initiate action, in accordance with rules, to announce election programmes for market committees whose tenure has expired. The move is expected to facilitate the selection of farmer representatives at the local level.

APMCs where elections will be held:

1. Bhanvad (Devbhoomi Dwarka) 2. Dholera (Ahmedabad), 3. Talod (Sabarkantha), 4. Sagbara (Narmada), 5. Kukarmunda (Tapi), 6. Surendranagar, 7. Kamrej (Surat), 8. Ranpur (Botad), 9. Barwala (Botad).

The minister added that District Registrar offices and related staff are currently engaged in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls as directed by the State Election Commission. As a result, it is not feasible to immediately conduct elections in certain market committees whose tenure has expired or is nearing expiry. Therefore, a six-month extension has been granted to 15 APMCs.

APMCs which have been granted six-month extension include Thasra and Galteshwar (Kheda), Deodar, Bhabhar and Dhanera (Banaskantha), Junagadh, Dholka and Bavla (Ahmedabad), Becharaji (Mehsana), Shahera (Panchmahal), Naswadi and Chhota Udepur (Chhota Udepur), Prantij (Sabarkantha), Gadhada (Botad), Khambha (Amreli).

The extension will be effective from the date of notification. However, market committees where election processes are being conducted under judicial or court orders will not be eligible for this extension. DeshGujarat