Three-phase Haryana panchayat polls begin Oct 30 with polling in 9 districts

State Election Commissioner Dhanpat Singh said: “In 61 blocks of nine districts – Bhiwani, Jhajjar, Jind, Kaithal, Mahendragarh, Nuh, Panchkula, Panipat, and Yamunanagar – polling will be held on October 30 for 1,278 panchayat samiti seats and 175 zilla parishad seats. All preparations related to security and all other facilities have been completed”

“This time, all activities related to panchayat elections can be viewed on the ‘Mhari Panchayat’ portal developed by the NIC. Nominations… and final lists of contesting candidates will be uploaded. Besides this, an e-dashboard has been prepared for the day of polling and counting so that anyone can see the poll trends, voting percentage, and final results sitting at home,” he added.

Earlier, Singh had said that 133 sarpanches and 17,158 panches have been unanimously elected in nine districts ahead of the November 2 polls, while 56 candidates have been unanimously elected for the panchayat samitis.

First phase

In the first phase, the ruling BJP is contesting zila parishads in three districts – Panchkula, Yamunanagar, and Nuh. The Congress, however, is not contesting the panchayat elections on the party symbol.

As many as 34,371 candidates are in the fray for the posts of panches, sarpanches, panchayat samiti, and zila parishad members. Of them, 19,175 are men and 15,196 women.

Haryana has a total of 6,220 gram panchayats, with 61,993 panches and all 6,220 sarpanches chosen directly by villagers.

As many as 38,000 polling personnel, including returning officers, additional ROs, supervisory staff, presiding officers, polling officers, and security staff are being deployed for the smooth conduct of the elections.

Second phase

The second phase voting for zila parishad and panchayat samiti seats will be held on November 9, and polling for sarpanches and panches in Ambala, Charkhi Dadri, Gurugram, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Rewari, Rohtak, Sirsa, and Sonipat districts on November 12.

Third phase

The third and final phase of polling, in the remaining districts of Hisar, Palwal, Faridabad, and Fatehabad, to elect the members of zila parishad and panchayat samitis will be held on November 22 and that of sarpanches and panches of gram panchayats on November 25.

Nomination process for the third phase will start on November 5.