Daijiworld Media Network - Jaipur
Jaipur, Oct 24: Polling began on Saturday for the first phase of panch and sarpanch elections in Rajasthan, with voters exercising their franchise across 3,314 gram panchayats in 16 districts of the state.
A total of 16,795 candidates are contesting sarpanch posts, while elections are also being held for 28,682 ward panch seats. Voting will continue until 6 pm, after which counting will begin and results are expected by late evening.
The first phase covers Ajmer, Alwar, Barmer, Bhilwara, Bikaner, Dungarpur, Jaipur, Jhalawar, Jodhpur, Kota, Nagaur, Pali, Phalodi, Rajsamand, Sirohi and Udaipur districts. These are the same districts where elections for zila parishad and panchayat samiti members were held on October 22.
Barmer has the highest number of gram panchayats going to polls at 419, followed by Bhilwara with 326, Phalodi with 305 and Udaipur with 284.
Bhilwara leads in the number of sarpanch candidates, with 2,097 contestants, followed by Dungarpur with 1,594, Jaipur with 1,525 and Udaipur with 1,480.
Election data shows that 2,905 gram panchayats have between one and nine candidates contesting for sarpanch posts, while 311 have between 10 and 19 candidates. Two gram panchayats have between 20 and 29 contestants.
Barmer has the highest number of ward panch seats going to polls at 3,025, followed by Bhilwara with 2,872 and Udaipur with 2,466.
Unlike elections to zila parishads and panchayat samitis, panch and sarpanch elections are not contested on political party symbols. The State Election Commission allots symbols to individual candidates, although political parties often support candidates at the village level.
Rajasthan's broader panchayati raj election process is being conducted in four phases, covering 41 zila parishads, 457 panchayat samitis and 14,403 gram panchayats.
Under the revised schedule, elections for zila parishad and panchayat samiti members are scheduled for October 22, October 28, November 3 and November 14. Polling for panch and sarpanch posts is scheduled for October 24, October 30, November 5 and November 16. Counting for zila parishad and panchayat samiti elections will take place on November 20.
The indirect elections for up-sarpanch posts in gram panchayats covered in the first phase are scheduled for October 25.