Over 69% voting recorded in second phase of Haryana panchayat elections

Over 69 per cent voter turnout was recorded on Wednesday in the polling to elect members of zila parishad and panchayat samitis in nine districts of Haryana in the second phase of the panchayat polls, officials said here.

Haryana State Election Commissioner Dhanpat Singh said polling was held peacefully.

Voting for 1,244 panchayat samiti members and 158 zila parishad members in 57 blocks of nine districts -- Ambala, Charkhi Dadri, Gurugram, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Rewari, Rohtak, Sirsa, and Sonipat -- began at 7 am and continued till 6 pm.

There were 48,67,132 eligible voters in the second phase. In a statement, Singh said, "33,44,672 voters exercised their voting rights till 7.30 pm, which is 69.1 per cent of the total voters of these nine districts."

At some polling stations, voters were seen standing in queues even at 7:30 pm, he added.

Some incidents of EVM malfunction were reported at some places, but officials involved in the election process got those machines replaced immediately and the polling was completed, the state election commissioner said.

Among the districts, Ambala recorded 68.7 per cent polling, Charkhi Dadri saw 70.3 per cent, Gurugram 75.3 per cent, Karnal 70.2 per cent, Kurukshetra at 71.9 per cent, Rewari 72.2 per cent, Rohtak 65.7 per cent, Sirsa 73 per cent and Sonipat 60.2 per cent, the officials said.

Singh said all EVMs would be kept in strongrooms.

Polling for sarpanch and panch will be held on November 12.

In the first phase, polling for zila parishads and panchayat samitis was held on October 30 and polling for sarpanch and panch were held on November 2 in Bhiwani, Jhajjar, Jind, Kaithal, Mahendragarh, Nuh, Panchkula, Panipat and Yamunanagar.

The third and final phase of polling in the remaining districts to elect members of zila parishad and panchayat samitis will be held on November 22 and that of sarpanch and panch of gram panchayats on November 25.

While the results of the sarpanch and panch polls 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.