The State Election Commission has completed the process of formation of booths for the Panchayat elections. A total of 53,480 booths have been set up in the State, for about 2.35 crore voters who are going to exercise their franchise. Per booth around 500 people will exercise their franchise. The voters include 1.21 crore males and 1.13 crore females.
Maximum number of 4,460 booths has been set up in Giridih district. At the same time, 3,631 booths have been made in Ranchi, 3,305 in Palamu, 3,078 in Hazaribagh and 990 in Khunti. The lowest 803 booths are in Lohardaga district. The number of booths in the remaining districts is between one and three thousand.
More than one lakh ballot boxes will be used in Panchayat elections. There are already 52 thousand ballot boxes available in the state. The State Election Commission has ordered 50,000 ballot boxes from Uttar Pradesh. Ballot boxes have been sent to various districts. At the same time, instructions have been given to complete the preparations for the Panchayat elections at the district level as well.
Panchayat elections in the state can be announced as soon as the festive season is over. The state government is also keeping a close watch on the status of Covid infection. In the next meeting of the cabinet also, it is possible to decide on holding elections after consideration. However, the sources so far deny the preparation of any proposal related to holding Panchayat elections.
The three-tier panchayat elections in Jharkhand will be held in four phases in the month of December. Its preparation has been completed. A proposal regarding this will be brought in the next meeting of the State Council of Ministers. After this the election will be announced after the approval of the Governor. The state government wants to conduct panchayat elections in the state before the completion of two years of government formation on December 29. According to sources in the Panchayati Raj Department, it has been almost agreed to conduct elections in four phases in the state from December 11 to December 20.
The first phase of elections can be held on 11 December, the second phase on 12 December, the third phase on 15 December and the fourth phase on 20 December. Counting of votes is likely to take place on December 26. This time also Panchayat elections will be held through ballot paper instead of EVM. In this regard, 50 thousand ballot boxes are being ordered from Uttar Pradesh in different districts of the state. About 52 thousand ballot boxes are already available in the state.