The third phase of municipal council and nagar panchayat elections in Maharashtra is being held today. The phase III of the polls is being contested across 20 municipal councils and 2 nagar panchayats in the districts of Aurangabad, Nanded, Bhandara and Gadchiroli. A total of 324 seats would be contested in this round electoral round. The number of candidates in the fray is reported to be 1,623. The results of the phase III of municipal elections would be declared tomorrow.

According to the assessment of candidate affidavits done by Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Maharashtra Election Watch, it was found that 8 per cent of the candidates in the fray .i.e. 90 of them have declared assets of more than Rs 1 crore. The average of assets of candidates contesting in the third phase of municipal council, nagar panchayat elections is reported to be Rs 31.97 lakhs.

The richest candidate in the fray is Ganesh Jaikisan Fafat, contesting from Desaiganj municipal council in Gadchiroli. He has declared assets of more than Rs 6 crore, reported Economic Times. Meanwhile, 264 candidates have declared assets of less than Rs 2 lakh. 1 candidate has declared zero assets.

ADR and Maharashtra Election Watch have also segregated the candidates in terms of demography. Nine candidates were found to be in the age group of 21 to 24. 175 candidates fall in the age gap of 25-30. The highest number of candidates, 349, are in the age group of 31-40. In the bracket of 41-50, a total of 333 candidates are contesting. The number dwindles down to 154 in the age bracket of 51-60. Number of candidates in the 61-70 and 71-80 age group is 57 and 5 respectively.

Interestingly, nearly 49 per cent of candidates in the fray are women. The figures were released by ADR and Maharashtra Election Watch after analysing the affidavits of 1,142 out of 1,623 candidates in the fray. The details of the affidavits of remaining candidates were not available to them.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won 52 out of 147 municipal council president’s post in the first phase, followed by 5 of the 14 municipal council president’s post in the second, would look to continue the momentum moving into the third round.