Parties to withdraw nominations for Thane, Palghar ZP polls

Political parties, including Shiv Sena and BJP, have decided to withdraw nominations filed by their candidates to contest upcoming elections to Thane Zilla Parishad and Panchayat polls in newly-created Palghar district.
The development comes in the wake of reports that some villages in both the districts are in the process of being upgraded to civic councils and all elected panchayat members falling under them will face dissolution thus necessitating civic elections once again in future.
Guardian Ministers of Thane and Palghar, namely Ekanth Shinde of Shiv Sena and Vishnu Savra of BJP today announced their decision to withdraw nominations on the last day of doing so on January 19.

Palghar district has a total of 57 ZP seats for which 397 candidates have filed nominations while 766 candidates have filed nominations for 114 Panchayat seats.
A total of 328 candidates had filed nominations for 55 ZP seats in Thane, and 513 candidates for 110 Panchayat seats in Palghar.