Voting begins for one of the oldest civic bodies in the country

Shimla: Voting for the Shimla Municipal Corporation, one of the oldest civic bodies in the country, began on Friday.

Long queues of electors were seen across polling centres. Though the voting started at 0800 hours voters started reaching early in the morning at some of the booths.

Unlike earlier elections, when residents elected the mayor and his deputy, this time voters will only elect councillors. The party with the maximum councillors will have internal polling for mayor and deputy mayor.

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The main contest is between Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but the candidates are not contesting on party symbol.

Over 91,000 voters will cast their votes to elect 34 councillors.

The BJP has supported 34 candidates, while the Congress 27 and the CPI-M 21 candidates. The Communists are supporting six independents.

The ballots will be counted on Saturday.

The CPI-M, which came to power in 2012, ruled the civic body with just three councillors in the 25-member House. The majority of the councillors were from the Congress.