Har Panchayat polls: Over 13k candidates in fray for 2nd phase

In the second phase of the general elections to Panchayati Raj Institutions to be conducted in 43 blocks of Haryana tomorrow, over 13,000 candidates are in the fray for the posts of Panch, Sarpanch and Member Panchayat Samiti.
While giving this information here today, State Election Commissioner, Rajeev Sharma, said that 12,903 candidates have already been elected unanimously for the post of Panch, 86 for Sarpanch and 42 for Member Panachayat Samiti.
He said during the second phase, as many as 13,682 candidates are in the fray for 6,393 posts of Panch, 8,043 candidates for 1,882 posts of Sarpanch and 3,679 for 956 posts of Member Panchayat Samiti.

Polling would be conducted between 7.30 am and 4pm.
Sharma said 36,48,973 voters are eligible to cast their ballots in 7,269 polling stations during the second phase.
The counting of votes for the posts of Panch and Sarpanch would be conducted immediately after the close of polling, and for Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad at 8 am on January 28, he added.

He said that all preparations have been made and necessary instructions have been issued to all the Deputy Commissioners and police authorities to conduct free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections.
Giving further details, Sharma said nominations have been received for total 416 seats of Zila Parishads in single phase schedule, that is, from December 23 to December 29, 2015, as the jurisdiction of several wards of the Zila Parishads falls within the jurisdiction of two or more than two blocks.

Out of the 416 seats, two members have been elected unopposed, elections to 171 seats have been held in the first phase, election to 141 seats would be held tomorrow and election to remaining 104 seats would be held on January 24. As many as 3,263 candidates are in the fray in all three phases.
The State Election Commissioner said that authorities have been asked to deploy extra police force in 1,515 polling booths identified as hyper-sensitive and 1,303 as sensitive in order to maintain law and order and ensure that polling takes place peacefully during the second phase.
He said election to all seats of Sarpanches and Members of Zila Parishads are to be conducted using about 16,000 single post Electronic Voting Machines.

The election to seats of Pahchayat Samitis and Zila Parishads of districts Rewari and Panchkula are to be conducted using multi-post EVMs, for which about 480 Control Units and 960 Balloting Units are to be used.