Voting underway for 1st phase polls to elect panches, sarpanches in Haryana

Polling began on Wednesday to elect panches and sarpanches in nine Haryana districts in the first phase of the three-phase voting.

The polling is going on in the districts of Bhiwani, Jhajjar, Jind, Kaithal, Mahendragarh, Nuh, Panchkula, Panipat and Yamunanagar, officials said.

The polling began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.

A number of voters had queued up since morning and 7.5 poll percentage was recorded in the first two hours of polling.

According to an official statement, Haryana State Election Commissioner Dhanpat Singh had on Tuesday said that polling would be held on November 2 for electing 2,607 sarpanches and 25,968 panches in these nine districts.

The first phase polls for zila parishads and panchayat samitis in these districts was held on October 30.

Arrangements related to drinking water, electricity and wheelchairs for physically challenged voters have been taken care of at all polling booths, he said.

According to Singh, there are over 49 lakh voters in the nine districts and 6,019 polling booths have been set up.

Notably, overall, there are 6,220 gram panchayats in the state, where 61,993 panches will be elected and all 6,220 sarpanches will be chosen directly by villagers.

While results of the panch-sarpanch elections will be declared at the end of voting in each phase, results of zila parishads and panchayat samiti members will be declared on November 27 after all the three phases are completed.

In the second phase, voting for zilla parishad and panchayat samiti members will be held on November 9m, while polling for sarpanches and panches will be held on November 12 in Ambala, Charkhi Dadri, Gurugram, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Rewari, Rohtak, Sirsa and Sonipat districts.

The third and final phase of polling in the remaining districts of Hisar, Palwal, Faridabad and Fatehabad to elect members of zila parishad and panchayat samitis will be held on November 22 and that of sarpanches and panches on November 25.