Fifth phase of panchayat polls concludes peacefully in Bihar

Nearly 61% of the electors exercised their franchise to elect their representatives in 845 panchayats spread in 58 blocks of 38 districts during the fifth phase of polling on Sunday

Nearly 61% of the electors exercised their franchise to elect their representatives in 845 panchayats spread in 58 blocks of 38 districts during the fifth phase of polling on Sunday. The polling mostly passed off peacefully, barring a few incidents of malpractices, said Bihar state election commissioner Deepak Prasad.

At a polling booth in Patna on Sunday. (Santosh Kumar/HT photo)

The polling was conducted at 12,056 booths, where about 67.47 lakh people cast their votes to elect 11,535 gram-panchayat members, 845 mukhiyas, 1,171 panchayat samiti members, 124 Zila parishad members, 11,553 gram-kutchery panchs and 845 sarpanchs. A total of 92,972 contestants are in the fray for various posts during the fifth round of polling.

According to a press communiqué issued from the office of SEC, there were 13 reports about EVM malfunctioning, two incidents of tampering with the voters’ list, two instances of bogus voting and four cases of booth capturing. One of the polling booths had complaints of bad light during the fag end of voting, while another complaint relating to influencing the voting by the poll personnel was also received. “The SEC is looking into all complaints,” said the officer.