Ranchi, Nov 16 (IANS): People having more than two children, whose last child was born after February 9, 2013, will not be able to become candidates in the upcoming elections to the municipal bodies in Jharkhand. As per the Jharkhand Municipal Act 2011, the State Election Commission has issued an order regarding this.

The election schedule for all the 49 municipal bodies in the state is likely to be announced in the next few days. The State Election Commission has completed its preparations. This is the first time that elections to all the municipal bodies of the state will be held simultaneously.

In case of more than two children, a copy of the order issued by the Commission regarding disqualification from contesting elections has been sent to the Deputy Commissioners of all the districts of the state and they have been asked to ensure its compliance.

This provision of the Municipal Act has come into force from February 5, 2012 and after a period of one year, if a person has a third child, then his candidature will be rejected.

Twins or an adopted child will also be included in the count of two children. Candidates will have to declare it themselves while filling the nomination form. Legal action will be taken if wrong information is given in the declaration.

The Commission said that it will also be mandatory for those wishing to contest elections to have paid up any taxes or fines imposed on them by the civic body till March 31, 2022.

The work of delimitation of wards for the municipal elections has been completed and polling stations have also been set up.

The work of publishing the reservation roster in the gazette is in the final stage. In a day or two, the roster gazette will be published in all the 49 civic bodies. The date of final publication of the voters list has been fixed for November 29.