E-Paper
PRI polls: Haryana records 71% turnout
The polling was held to elect members of block samiti and zila parishad in the first phase in nine district of the state
: Haryana recorded over 71% voter turnout on Sunday during the polling to elect zila parishad and panchayat samiti members in the first phase of the elections to the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).
The polling passed off peacefully across 6,020 polling booths and the counting of the votes will be held on November 27.
Haryana has 22 zila parishads, comprising 411 members, who will in turn elect 22 zila parishad chiefs. The state has 143 panchayat samitis, comprising 3,081 members, who will also further elect their respective president. The PRI elections in Haryana are being held in three phases.
In the first phase of the polling on Sunday 1,278 panchayat samiti members and 175 zila parishad members will be elected. The polling to elect panches and sarpanches of panchayats in the first phase will be held on November 2.
“The polling was held peacefully in all nine districts and no untoward incident was reported from anywhere,” Dhanpat Singh, state election commissioner said.
Applauding all the officials and officers engaged in election duty on the completion of the first phase of voting peacefully, he said the EVMs had malfunctioned at some places, but the officials involved in the election process immediately replaced such machines and resumed the voting process.
District-wise polling
The polling was held in 61 blocks of Bhiwani, Jhajjar, Jind, Kaithal, Mahendragarh, Nuh, Panchkula, Panipat and Yamunanagar districts. The highest 77.9% voter turnout was reported in Panchkula district, followed by 76.1% in Yamunanagar, 72.2% in Nuh, 72.4%in Panipat, 70.7% in Mahendergarh, 70% in Bhiwani, 69.1% in Jind, 67.9% in Kaithal, 66.7% in Jhajjar, according to the e-dashboard of the state election commission.
A total of 49,67,092 voters exercised their franchise in the first phase.
According to the state election commission, in the first phase, there are 34,371 candidates (19,175 are males and 15,196 females) in the fray for the post of panch, sarpanch and member of panchayat samiti and zilla parishad.
The ruling BJP is contesting for zila parishad elections in three districts (Panchkula, Yamunanagar and Nuh) on the party symbol.
In the second phase, the polling will be held on November 9 for zila parishad and panchayat samiti members, while polling for sarpanch and panch will be held on November 12.
In the third and the final phase, the polling will be held on November 22 (to elect members of zila parishad and panchayat samitis) and the polling to elect sarpanches and panches will be held on November 25.
Zila parishad candidate booked
In Kaithal a zila parishad candidate and her husband were booked for allegedly giving ₹ 51,000 cash donation to Valmiki temple in violation of the model code of conduct. The first information report (FIR) was registered on the complaint of an assistant returning officer, official said.
