Haryana sarpanch, panch polls: Panchkula leads again with 86.7% turnout

Among Panchkula’s four blocks, at 88.6%, Morni had the highest turnout, followed by Pinjore with 87.5%, Barwala with 86.1% and Raipur Rani with 85.9%

After recording 77.9% voter turnout for zila parishad and block samiti elections on Sunday, highest in Haryana, Panchkula again led in the state in the sarpanch and panch elections on Wednesday, as 86.7% voters came forward to exercise their franchise

Voters lined up to cast their votes at Diwanwala village in Panchkula. (Sant Arora/HT)

As many as 1,27,865 people, including over 68,000 males, over 59,000 females and 12 transgenders, were eligible to vote in four blocks of Panchkula – Pinjore, Raipur Rani, Morni and Barwala.

Among them, at 88.6%, Morni had the highest turnout, followed by Pinjore with 87.5%, Barwala with 86.1% and Raipur Rani with 85.9%.

Voting took place at 166 polling stations from 7 am to 6 pm for the election of 118 sarpanches and 105 panches.

Panchkula deputy commissioner-cum-district election officer Mahavir Kaushik said as many as 135 sarpanches were to be elected in the district. Among them, 15 had been chosen unanimously, while no names were sent for the post from two villages. So, voting took place for 118 posts, including 39 in Raipur Rani, 37 in Pinjore, 23 in Barwala and 19 in Morni.

Similarly, polling was held for 105 posts of panch, including 45 in Raipur Rani, 34 in Barwala, 25 in Pinjore and one in Morni.

An election commission official said while electronic voting machines were used for the block samiti, zila parishad and sarpanch elections, ballot papers were used to elect the panches.

As per the schedule set by the Haryana State Election Commission, the second phase of polls at nine more districts will be held on November 9 and 12, and in the third and final phase, polling at the remaining four districts will be held on November 22 and 25.

This is the first time that voting for the posts of panch, sarpanch and members of block samitis and zila parishads in Haryana is being held on different days, as earlier, votes for all four posts were cast on the same day.