Chandigarh, Dec 20 (IANS): Authorities in Punjab have received 210,494 nominations for panchayat elections in the state.

"A total 48,111 nominations papers have been filed for the post of sarpanchs (village head) and 162,383 nominations papers filed for the post of panches (village council member) in Punjab up to the last date of filling the nomination papers for the panchayat Elections," a spokesman for the State Election Commission said here on Thursday.

Voting for 13,276 panchayats will be held on December 30 and 13,276 sarpanchs would be elected for as many panchayats in the state.

The spokesman said that 83,831 panches would be elected for 13,276 panchayats, from which 17,811 seats are for Scheduled Castes, 12,634 for Scheduled Caste Women, 22,690 for general category women, 4,381 for Backward Classes and 26,315 seats are for the general category.

There are total of over 1.27 crore registered voters in the state for these elections.

The commission has established 17,268 polling booths and 86,340 personnel will be deputed on election duty.

The expenditure limit for a candidate contesting for the post of sarpanch has been fixed at Rs 30,000 whereas the limit for those contesting for the post of panch has been fixed at Rs 20,000.

The Congress has been in power in Punjab since March 2017.