Final phase of Haryana panchayat polls tomorrow

The third and final phase of elections to Panchayati Raj Institutions in 36 blocks in Haryana will be held tomorrow, amid tight security arrangements.
Necessary instructions have been issued to all Deputy Commissioners and police authorities to ensure fair, transparent and peaceful elections, Haryana Election Commissioner Rajeev Sharma said here today.
Voting will begin at 7.30 am and continue until 4 pm, the EC said.
He said polling would be held at 5,231 polling stations in which 27,30,926 voters would be eligible to exercise their franchise.
He said there are 1,021 hyper-sensitive and 1,154 sensitive polling stations in the third phase.

The police have been asked to deploy extra force at these polling stations to maintain law and order, he said.

Sharma said the elections to 1,646 seats of Sarpanches, 16,126 seats of Panches, 781 seats of Member Panchayat Samitis and 104 seats of Member of Zila Parishad would be conducted in the third phase of the elections.
11,584 candidates are in the fray for 5,362 posts of Panch, 6,370 candidates for 1,550 posts of Sarpanch and 2,877 for 750 posts of Member Panchayat Samiti, the EC said.
He said that in the third phase, 10,316 candidates have already been elected unanimously for the post of Panch, 95 for Sarpanch and 30 for Member Panachayat Samiti.

Counting of votes for Panches and Sarpanches would be held immediately after the close of polling and for Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad on January 28.