More than 85 per cent polling was recorded in the second phase of Haryana’s panchayat elections held on Sunday.
According to the Haryana State Election Commission, the highest voter turnout was recorded in Sirsa district at 91.6 per cent. Polling was held for 141 seats of zila parishad, 999 seats of panchayat samitis, 1,970 seats of sarpanch and 20,126 posts of panch in the second phase of election to panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) in the State.
Following the incidents of scuffle and violence in the first phase of polls to PRIs held on January 10, elaborate security arrangements were made to conduct the election on Sunday.
The Election Commission had asked the police authorities to deploy extra police force in 1,515 polling booths identified as hyper-sensitive and 1,303 as sensitive in order to maintain law and order and ensure that polling takes place peacefully during the second phase.
The control rooms were set up at the district headquarters and helpline numbers were also made available by the Election Commission so that people could file their complaints related to the election and voting on the polling day.
As per the reports,
villagers including, women were seen enthusiastic for the voting and queues could be seen at various polling booths since morning.
State Election Commissioner Rajeev Sharma on Sunday said that as many as 12,903 panches, 86 sarpanches and 42 members of panchayat samitis have been elected unanimously during the second phase of fifth general elections to the panchayati raj institutions in Haryana, which were conducted in a peaceful, free and fair manner.
According to information received upto 8.45pm, 85.5 per cent voters cast their ballots, and the final turnout may be higher. The counting of votes for the posts of sarpanches and panches began immediately after closing of polls, and results of 500 posts of sarpanch were declared till the evening, said he.
Sharma added that 87.8 per cent have cast their votes in Ambala, 87.5 per cent in Fatehabad, 83.4 per cent voters in district Kaithal, 82.6 per cent in Panipat, 82.6 per cent in Rohtak, 80.3 per cent in Hisar, 84 per cent in Jhajjar, 84.1 per cent in Gurgaon, 85.6 per cent in Mahendragarh, 87.7 per cent in Jind, 83.8 per cent in Karnal, 83.7 per cent in Mewat, 89.2 per cent in Kurukshetra, 81.5 per cent in Sonipat, 83.7 per cent in Rewari, 86.2 per cent in Bhiwani and 73.2 per cent in Palwal.
In the second phase of the general elections to PRIs, as many as 13,682 candidates were in the fray for 6,393 posts of panch, 8,043 candidates for 1,882 posts of sarpanch and 3,679 for 956 posts of member panchayat samiti.
Sharma said that 36,48,973 voters were eligible to cast their ballots in 7,269 polling stations during the second phase.
Notably, a person had died and several others were injured in poll-related clashes in Palwal, Rohtak, Bhiwani and other districts of Haryana during the first phase of polling for the panchayat elections. The first phase had recorded 85 per cent voter turnout with Panchkula district topping the table at 91.8 per cent voter turnout.