After the third and final phase of voting to Panchayati Raj institutions in Haryana, a large number of young sarpanches have been elected in the State.
According to the e-dashboard of State Election Commission, the average age of those elected as Sarpanch is 34 years in the third phase. In the second phase of PRIs elections held on January17, the average age of elected sarpanches was 37 years while it was 34 years in the first phase held on January 10.
An official spokesman of the Election Commission on Monday said that in the third phase of elections to the PRIs, the average age of elected arpanches in districts of Mewat and Palwal is 33 years, which is the lowest.
In district Rewari, the average age is 40 years, which is the highest. Apart from this, the average age of elected sarpanches is 39 years in district Ambala, 38 years in Bhiwani, 36 years in Fatehabad, 37years in Hisar, 38 years in Jind, 35 years in Kaithal, 36 years in Karnal, 37 years in Kurukshetra, 34 years in Mahendergarh, 35 years in Panipat, 39 years in Rohtak, 35 years in Sirsa, 38 years in districts Sonipat and Yamunanagar.
The final phase of elections for the Haryana PRIs recorded 86.7 per cent voting on Sunday, which is more than that of the first two phases. Sirsa district had recorded the highest polling, where 91.6 per cent people cast their vote.
In the third phase, 181 elected sarpanches are either graduate or have higher educational qualification. They included 11 from Ambala, 16 from Bhiwani, 10 from Fatehabad, nine from Hisar, eight from Jind, 11 from Kaithal, 22 from Karnal, , 14 from Mewat, 16 from Sirsa, 10 from Sonipat and 15 from Yamunanagar.
As many as 205 elected sarpanches were XII pass whereas 981 and 277 sarpanches were X and VIII pass respectively. A total of 684 female sarpanches were elected in the third phase of these elections.
Out of them, 69 female Sarpanches were from district Ambala, 58 from district Bhiwani, 68 from district Karnal, 46 from district Kurukshetra, 32 from district Mahendergarh, 53 from district Mewat, 44 from district Sirsa, 52 from district Sonipat, 65 from district Yamunanagar among others.
Apart from this, 959 male sarpanches were elected including the highest 96 from Bhiwani district.
According to the new Panchayati Act, general-category candidates for panchayat polls must have a minimum qualification of completing class X. Scheduled caste and women aspirants are required to clear class VIII while women from the SC category are eligible only if they have passed class.
Apart from mandatory educational qualifications for the candidates, the Act had made it mandatory that poll candidates have a functional toilet at home. Anyone found defaulting in payment of agricultural loan and electricity bills are also disqualified from contesting the poll.