Chandigarh, Oct 30 (PTI) More than 70 per cent votes were polled on Sunday to elect members of zila parishads and panchayat samitis in nine districts of Haryana, officials said.
The first phase of panchayat polls was held in 61 blocks of Bhiwani, Jhajjar, Jind, Kaithal, Mahendragarh, Nuh, Panchkula, Panipat and Yamunanagar to elect 1,278 panchayat samiti members and 175 zila parishad members.
Seventy one per cent of the over 49 lakh registered voters cast their vote, according to the voting percentage figures made available by the State Election Commission, Haryana at 10.30 pm.
The polling, held from 7 am to 6 pm, remained peaceful throughout, State Election Commissioner Dhanpat Singh said, while adding 6,019 booths had been set up.
Panchkula recorded 77.9 per cent polling while 77.5 per cent votes were polled in Yamunanagar, 72.4 per cent in Panipat, 72.2 in Nuh, 70.8 in Bhiwani, 66.7 in Jhajjar, 69.1 in Jind, 68.2 in Kaithal and 70.9 per cent in Mahendragarh.
An official statement quoting Dhanpat Singh said EVMs had malfunctioned at some places, but the officials involved in the election process immediately replaced the faulty machines and voting process resumed soon afterwards.
Singh said the EVMs have been deposited by the polling staff and these will be kept in strongrooms under security.
During the day, enthusiasm was witnessed among the voters, including women, who queued up at the booths.
Young voters were seen clicking selfies at ‘selfie points’ after casting their vote.
At many places in the nine districts, several elderly voters also reached the booth to cast their vote. State Election Commission had made necessary arrangements to facilitate elderly and physically challenged voters.
Meanwhile, the first phase voting to elect sarpanches and panches will be held on November 2.
The panchayat polls in Haryana are being held in three phases. These polls are being held in the state after a gap of nearly six years.
Singh had earlier said 133 sarpanches and 17,158 panches were unanimously elected in nine districts ahead of the polls, while 56 candidates had been unanimously elected for panchayat samitis.
In the first phase, 34,371 candidates are in the fray for the posts of panches, sarpanches and members, panchayat samitis and zila parishads. Of them, 19,175 are men and 15,196 women.
Overall, there are 6,220 gram panchayats, 143 panchayat samitis and 22 zila parishads.
While the results of the polls for sarpanches and panches will be declared at the end of each phase of voting, those of elections to elect zila parishads and panchayat samiti members will be declared on November 27 after completion of all three phases.
The second phase voting — November 9 to elect zila parishad and panchayat samiti members, and November 12 to pick sarpanches and panches — will cover nine other districts.
The third and final phase of polling in the remaining districts to elect zila parishad and panchayat samiti members will be held on November 22 and elections to choose sarpanches and panches will be held on November 25. PTI SUN RHL
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Source: The Print
