Jaipur, Oct 24 A total of 3,314 gram panchayats across 16 districts in Rajasthan went to the polls on Saturday to decide the fates of more than 16,500 candidates in the fray for the sarpanch’s posts, along with elections for 28,682 ward panch seats, officials said.
Till 3 pm, a turnout of 61.87 per cent was recorded in the first phase of panch and sarpanch elections, they said. The voting, which picked up pace during the day after recording 19.31 per cent turnout till 10 am, ended at 6 pm. The final turnout figures are awaited.
Counting of votes for the first phase will be taken up when polling ends, and the results are expected by late Saturday evening.
According to the figures released by the State Election Commission (SEC), Mangta in Barmer district recorded 78.67 per cent polling, followed by Phalodi at 78.38 per cent and Dechu in Phalodi district at 77.99 per cent.
Bhinder in Udaipur district recorded 43.69 per cent polling, among the lowest in the areas covered in the first phase of elections.
A total of 16,795 candidates are in the fray for the sarpanch’s posts.
The elections are being held in Ajmer, Alwar, Barmer, Bhilwara, Bikaner, Dungarpur, Jaipur, Jhalawar, Jodhpur, Kota, Nagaur, Pali, Phalodi, Rajsamand, Sirohi and Udaipur districts.
These are the same 16 districts where polling for zila parishad and panchayat samiti members was held on October 22.
Barmer has the highest number of gram panchayats going to the polls at 419, followed by Bhilwara at 326, Phalodi at 305 and Udaipur at 284.
Bhilwara has the highest number of sarpanch candidates at 2,097, followed by Dungarpur at 1,594, Jaipur at 1,525 and Udaipur at 1,480.
According to SEC data, 2,905 gram panchayats have between one and nine candidates for the sarpanch’s posts, while 311 have between 10 and 19 candidates. Two gram panchayats have between 20 and 29 candidates.
In Barmer, elections are being held for 3,025 ward panch seats, the highest among the 16 districts, followed by Bhilwara at 2,872 and Udaipur at 2,466.
Unlike the zila parishad and panchayat samiti polls, panch and sarpanch elections are not contested on political party symbols. The SEC allots election symbols to the candidates, although political parties often extend their support to the nominees.
The Panchayati Raj elections in Rajasthan are being held in four phases for 41 zila parishads, 457 panchayat samitis and 14,403 gram panchayats.
(PTI News)
