PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE | Dehradun
The State Election Commission (SEC) has reported an overall voter turnout of 69.16 per cent in the elections (both first and second phase) of three tier Panchayat bodies in the 12 districts of the State. The secretary SEC, Rahul Kumar Goyal said that huge enthusiasm was visible among voters in the Panchayat elections in 89 blocks of 12 districts of the State. He said that 74.42 per cent female and 64.23 per cent male voters expressed their franchise in the Panchayat elections which shows the faith of rural population in grass root democracy.
The voting for the second phase of Panchayat elections in 40 blocks was held on Monday. A voter turnout of 70 per cent was reported in the second phase of elections. In the second phase 65.50 per cent males and 74.50 per cent female voters came out to the polling booths on Monday.
After the end of the first and second phase of voting the fate of 32,580 candidates for the posts of member district Panchayat, member block Panchayat, village Pradhan and member village Panchayat is sealed in the ballot boxes.
After the end of the voting all eyes are now on the counting of the votes which will be held on July 31. The counting of votes for the posts of Pradhans and member village Panchayat will be done in their respective blocks while the counting of member block Panchayat and member district Panchayat will be done at district headquarters.
The SEC had set up 8,276 polling stations and 10,529 polling booths for the Panchayat elections in 12 districts. It took services of 95,909 employees, 3,342 light vehicles and 2,278 heavy vehicles for smooth conduction of the Panchayat polls in the State. The commission has deployed 55 general observers and 12 reserved observers for the elections.
