Victoria’s 2020 local council elections, during the state’s strict coronavirus restrictions, will be conducted by postal vote and will be the largest ever undertaken in Victoria with more than 4.5 million voters enrolled.
Ballot packs containing a ballot paper, statements and photographs supplied by candidates, voting instructions and a reply-paid envelope have been posted to voters. All Votes must be posted by 6:00 pm on Friday, 23 October to be counted.
This year marks the first election where all candidates have completed a mandatory Local Government Candidate Training Course through Local Government Victoria. The online course about councillor roles and responsibilities introduced through the new Local Government Act was completed by more than 3,000 people.
Given the current restrictions in Victoria there is limited opportunity for aspiring candidates for the upcoming Council elections to visit homes, door knock or shift attention to what matters most in their council right now.
A considerably large number of people from Indian background are contesting the elections this year. Indian Link spoke to some to find out why we should consider them for our vote.
The following are the candidates for Victoria’s local council elections 2020:
- Deepti Alurkar – Candidate for Watts Ward, Melton City Council
- Santi Whiteside – Candidate for Wattle Ward, Whitehorse City Council
- Rishi Prabhakar – Candidate for Chaffer Ward, Wyndham City Council
- Shashi Kochhar – Candidate for Mulgrave Ward, Monash City Council
- Amandeep Kaur – Candidate for Iramoo Ward for Wyndham City Council
- Amit Patel – Candidate for Glen Waverley Ward, Monash City Council
- Moti Visa – Candidate for Melbourne City Council
- Nildhara Gadani – Candidate for Mahoneys Ward, Whitehorse City Council
- Praveen Kumar – Candidate for North-West Ward for Moreland City Council
- Sumeet Chhabra – Candidate for Sparks Ward for Whitehorse City Council