The results of the elections for the three-tier Panchayati Raj bodies in 12 districts of the State were declared on Monday. The counting started at 8 am on Sunday and since the State Election Commission had used ballot papers for the elections, the process of counting was drawn out which caused delay in the declaration of results.
At the time of filing this report, 3,787 posts of Village Pradhans were declared. In these elections, voting was held for 5,846 posts of Pradhans. Incidentally 1,515 Pradhans were elected unopposed while 124 position remained vacant.
Similarly, 1,402 posts of Member Block Panchayat were declared out of 2,675 posts for which the elections were held. For these posts 299 candidates were declared unopposed.
Out of 356 posts of member district Panchayat 37 results were declared till the time of filing this report.
Enthusiasm was seen at the 89 block headquarters which went to the polls in 12 districts of the state from the morning.
A good voter turnout of 69.59 per cent in all the three phases has shown that the rural voter has shown enthusiasm to participate in the festival of democracy in the State.
The voters of Udham Singh Nagar district showed maximum enthusiasm in the process of elections as as a voter turnout of 84.26 per cent was reported in all three phases. Out of total electorate of 4320412, spreading over 89 blocks and 7485 village Panchayats, 30,06,378 voters exercised their franchise in these polls which was spread in three phases.
Meanwhile, both major political parties have started their maneuvering to ensure that their candidates who have emerged victories on the posts of Block and district Panchayats members are kept on a tight leash so that they are not poached by rivals.
The Minister of State for higher education and cooperatives, Dhan Singh Rawar claimed on Monday that BJP supported candidates are winning from maximum number of seats. “We will be able to make our Chairman in all 12 district Panchayats and most of the Block Pramukhs would also be ours,’’ he claimed.
It is pertinent to mention here that in the Panchayat elections of 2014, the Congress party was able to get its members elected on maximum number of positions of district Panchayat presidents. At that time the Congress was in power in the State and that helped it in victories on the most positions.
This time the pressure is on the ruling BJP to reverse the trend of 2014 and snatch maximum positions from the Congress.
