Panaji, Aug 9 (IANS): Election to 186 village panchayats in Goa will be held on Wednesday, with 5,038 candidates in fray representing 1,464 wards.

According to State Election Commissioner, W.V. Ramanamurthy, counting of votes will be taken up on August 12.

While the 186 village panchayats in Goa have a total of 1,528 wards, 64 candidates have already been elected unopposed.

A total of 8,27,099 voters are eligible to cast their votes, including 4,01,725 male voters and 4,25,372 female voters, along with two belonging to the third gender.

The State Election Commission (SEC) has reserved 21 seats (1.37 per cent) for Schedule Castes, 187 seats (12.32 per cent) for Schedule Tribes and 307 (20.10 per cent) for Other Backward Classes.

Along with adequate police force, more than 10,000 polling staff have been deployed for the smooth conduct of the elections. Around 30 out of 1,566 polling booths have been identified as vulnerable and sensitive.