The polling of the second phase of the three-tier panchayat election in 12 districts of Uttarakhand was held by and large peacefully on Saturday. Till 5 pm, around 64 per cent voters had exercised their right in the polling held at around 10, 270 booths of 31 blocks in the State. The State Election Commission had made all the arrangements to conduct free and fair polling in the State.
The polling percentage is expected to cross 70 as large numbers of voters were seen waiting for their turn outside the polling booths in the closing hours of voting. They had started queuing up at the booths at the start of the polling at 7 am.
The State Election Commission Joint Commissioner, RS Pokhariya, said that with the deployment of adequate force at each polling booth, the second phase of polling was conducted peacefully in the State. By 3 pm, around 54 per cent voters in the State had exercised their franchise. Dehradun with 63.94 per cent turn-out by 3 pm topped the list of districts while Uttarkashi with 62.27 per cent, Udham Singh Nagar with 62.21 per cent, Tehri with 61.13 percent, Nainital with 58.50 per cent, Chamoli with 57.11 percent, Pauri with 54.17 per cent, Rudraprayag with 52.30 per cent, Bageshwar with 50.40 per cent, Pithoragarh with 49.74 per cent, Champawat with 49.00 per cent and Almora with 48.30 per cent followed.
As per official report, in the second stage, around 7,79,511 female and 8,01,416 male voters of 31 blocks of 12 districts exercised their franchise to elect Gram Panchayat member, Gram Panchayat pradhan, Block Panchayat member and District Panchayat member.
In the second phase, the voters of Kalsi and Sahaspur blocks of Dehradun district, Kotaghat, Vetalnagar and Ramnagar blocks of Nainital district and Chokhutia, Dhwarahat and Tadikhet blocks of Almora district exercised their franchise.
Similarly, voters of Jaspur, Kashipur and Bajpur blocks of Udham Singh Nagar district, lohaghat and Barakot blocks of Champawat district, Dharchula, Munsiyari and Didihat blocks of Pithoragarh district, Garud block of Bageshwar district, Bhatwadi and Dunda blocks of Uttarkashi district, Gairsain, Karnprayag and Pokhri blocks of Chamoli district, Tholdhar, Johnpur and Pratapnagar blocks of Tehri district have exercised their franchise.
Pokhariya said that 30 gazetted officers, 70 inspectors, 990 sub-inspectors, 890 head constables, 7,000 constables, 4400 Home Guards, 2000 PRD jawans and 30 Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) companies were deployed for the election in the State. The polling area in the State was divided into 183 zones and 924 sectors for better security management in order to avoid untoward incidents during polling.
It should be mentioned here that the first and second stages of the three-tier elections in all the districts of Uttarakhand barring Haridwar was held on Wednesday and Saturday and the third and last phase polling will be held on June 24. The counting of votes will be held on June 27.