80 per cent turnout for gram panchayat polls

Nearly 12.89 lakh voters will exercise their rights in the elections. According to district election office the elections were conducted smoothly and there were no reports of any faulty Electronic Voting Machines. For the elections,50 persons were issued externment notices. The voting was held in 1,795 wards across 13 talukas in the district. Voting commenced at 7.30 am and ended at 5.30 pm. Counting of votes will be done on July 31.

The district administration had assigned duties to over 11,296 people for the smooth conduct of the polls. Nearly 362 polling booths were identified as sensitive with the majority of them being in Indapur,Baramati,Shirur and Purandar talukas. Around 101 zonal officers have been deployed for the elections. Over 2,000 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be used during the polls.

The administration had declared July 28-31 as dry days,while around 277 cases of sale of illicit liquor were registered since July 1. Around 65 people have been arrested and goods worth Rs 22.85 lakh was confiscated. While Maval taluka saw highest number of externment notices with 18,followed by Baramati with 15 and Junnar with 13.