Jharkhand Panchayat Election: Counting of 1st phase of Jharkhand Panchayat Election

The counting of votes in the first phase of Jharkhand panchayat elections will begin on Tuesday amid tight security, an official said. The first of four rounds of panchayat elections was held on 14 May. Out of 52 lakh voters, more than 68 percent have exercised their franchise.

A total of 1,127 panchayats in 72 blocks of 21 districts of the state went to the polls in the first phase. Panchayat elections in the state are not party based.

SEC secretary Radhe Shyam Prasad said, “The counting of the first phase (election) will start from 8 am on Tuesday. It will continue till evening.”

Since the vote was conducted on the ballot paper, it will take time to announce the final results, the official said.

In the first phase, 16,757 posts were to be elected – 14,079 panchayat members, 1,127 heads, 1,405 panchayat committee members and 146 district council members.

However, a total of 6,231 candidates have already been declared uncontested winners in the first phase, as only one candidate remained in each of the posts after the withdrawal and rejection of nomination papers.

Thus, elections were held for 9,819 posts – 7,303 panchayat members, 1,117 heads, 1,256 panchayat committee members and 143 district council members.

The remaining three rounds of elections will be held on May 19, 24 and 26.

Meanwhile, re-polling in 27 booths across eight districts ended peacefully on Monday with 59.14 per cent voters, Prasad said.

The SEC had received complaints of errors in ballot papers from several booths during the polls on Saturday.