Bhopal, June 1 : The urban local body elections in Madhya Pradesh will be conducted in two phases using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) on July 6 and July 13, respectively, the State Election Commission (SEC) said on Wednesday. The first phase will cover 11 municipal corporations, 36 municipalities (nagar palika) and 86 city councils (nagar parishad), while the second phase will cover 5 municipal corporations, 40 municipalities and 169 city councils. According to the SEC, the elections will be conducted for 347 urban local bodies, out of which 133 will be covered in the first phase of voting, while 214 will be covered in the second phase. As many as 19,977 polling stations have been set up in the state and a total 87,937 employees have been deployed for election duty. State Election Commissioner Basant Pratap Singh told mediapersons that the tenure of 59 urban local bodies are yet to end and therefore the elections for these local bodies will not be conducted now. Singh informed that 30,761 EVMs will be used for the elections, which will also have the NOTA option. The Mayors of the municipal corporations will be elected through direct voting, while the president and vice-president in each municipal body will be decided by the elected municipal corporation members. The counting of votes for the first phase will be held on July 17, and for the second phase on July 18. "The model code of conduct has come into force with the announcement of election dates. Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior and Jabalpur will go to the polls in the first phase," Singh said. The process of reservation for conducting elections in 397 urban bodies was completed on Tuesday. The reservation of OBCs has increased from 25 per cent to 28 per cent in 99 municipalities. /IANS