Dehradun, Nov 18: Polling has begun in 84 urban local bodies (ULB) across Uttarakhand amid tight security on Sunday. The votes will be counted on November 20.

Polling has begun in 84 urban local bodies (ULB) across Uttarakhand amid tight security on Sunday. The votes will be counted on November 20.

The State Election Commissioner (SEC), Chandrasekhar Bhatt, had said that elections would be held in seven municipal corporations, 39 municipal councils and 38 nagar panchayats. He added that a total of 2357840 voters would exercise their franchise in these elections out of which 1148027 would be female and 1209813, male.

There are 92 urban local bodies in the State out of which eight are municipal corporations, 41 municipal councils and 43 nagar panchayats. Due to the pending cases in Uttarakhand High Court (HC) on the extension of the limit of the municipal corporation, elections would not be held in Roorkee.

A total of 23.53 lakh voters consisting of 12.20 lakh male and 11.33 lakh female will seal the fate of 4,978 candidates contesting in the polls across the state.

The voting, which started at 8 am, will end at 5 pm.

This election could be seen as a fight for dominance between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress in the hilly state.