Chandigarh Dec 23 PTI The elections for the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation will be held here on Friday it was announced Thursday About 63 lakh voters including three lakh women are eligible to cast votes Officials said all necessary arrangements including those related to security have been made to ensure smooth polling The number of wards has increased from 26 in 2016 to 35 now and 694 polling booths have been set up Over 3000 policemen will be on duty to enforce tight security arrangements The poll timings will be from 730 am to 5 pm There are 203 candidates in the fray whose electoral fate will be declared on December 27 Traditionally the municipal election - held every five years - sees a locking of horns between the BJP and the Congress but with the entry of Aam Aadmi Party AAP the contest this time will be three-cornered The Bharatiya Janata Party BJP holds majority in the current House In the last MC elections BJP had won 20 seats and its erstwhile ally Shiromani Akali Dal won one Congress had managed to win only four seats The BJP is fighting election on plank of its achievements in past five years On the other hand Congress and AAP have targeted the BJP for allegedly failing to undertake development work and have criticised it over city going down in the Swachh Survekshan a ranking for cleanliness rankings The two parties also targeted BJP for not resolving the issue of Dadumajra dumping ground and also raised issues like rise in prices of essential commodities PTI SUN VSD VN VN