East Singhbhum register 59 per cent, West Singhbhum 65.39
Ranchi, May 27: Polling for the fourth and final phase of Jharkhand panchayat elections was completed peacefully amid tight security with an average polling percentage at 68..99.
All the phases have witnessed over 68 per cent polling, while the first phase had 68.92, the second phase witnessed 68.83 and the third phase had the highest 70.90 percent taking the average polling in all the four phase to 69.64 per cent.
East Singhbhum district’s Golmuri-cum-Jugsalai block which went to poll on Friday registered 59.07 per cent while blocks in West Singhbhum district which went to polls registered 65.39 percent. No blocks in Seraikela-Kharsawan went to polls in the fourth phase.
Voting began at 7 AM and long queues of voters were seen before most booths including those in Maoist-hit blocks.
“People from every corner of the state have enthusiastically participated in this great festival of democracy. Best wishes to all again,” Chief Minister Hemant Soren tweeted.
As many as 6,785 booths have been declared as sensitive and 4,744 hyper-sensitive. Polling will continue till 3 PM.
Voting is underway in 23 of the 24 districts of the state. Elections in all nine blocks of Saraikela-Kharsawan district have been completed in the first and third phases. Heavy deployment of security forces has been ensured to conduct free and fair polls. Drone cameras are also being used in sensitive areas to monitor the exercise.
“The final phase of polling was completed peacefully in 1,299 gram panchayats. In few places in West Singhbhum there were instance of errors in polling papers,” a State Election Commission official said.
More than 58.16 lakh voters, including 28.20 lakh women, were eligible to exercise their franchise to decide the political fate of 35,504 candidates.
Panchayat elections in Jharkhand are not contested with party symbols.
In the final phase, elections were scheduled to be held for 18,920 posts — 15,875 panchayat members, 1,299 mukhiyas, 1,587 panchayat committee representatives and 159 zilla parishad members.
However, a total of 6,950 candidates have already been declared winners unopposed for posts of 6,811 panchayat members, five mukhiyas, 133 panchayat committee representatives and one zilla parishad member in the fourth phase of the elections, he said.
The first, second and third phase of the elections took place on May 14, 19 and 24 respectively. The counting of votes polled in the first two phases has been completed, while that of the third and fourth phases will take place on May 31
