Ranchi (PTI): Around 12 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 9 am in the civic polls to 48 urban local bodies in Jharkhand on Monday, an election official said.

Voting, which commenced at 7 am, is underway amid tight security. It will continue till 5 pm, he said.

"Voter turnout of 12 per cent was recorded till 9 am. Polling is underway peacefully," State Election Commission (SEC) secretary Radhe Shyam Prasad said.

Over 43 lakh voters are eligible to decide the fate of 6,000-plus candidates.

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State Election Commissioner (SEC) Alka Tiwari exercised her franchise at ward number 40 in Ranchi.

"Polling is underway peacefully across the state and reports are so far good from every ULB. I would like to appeal to the voters to exercise their franchise," Tiwari told reporters.

Prasad said the elections are underway for the posts of mayor and chairperson in 48 ULBs, and councillors in 1,042 wards across nine municipal corporations, 20 nagar parishads and 19 nagar panchayats.

As many as 562 candidates, including 235 women, are in the fray for the posts of mayor and chairperson, while 5,562 candidates, including 2,727 women, are contesting the posts of ward councillors.

Prasad said adequate security arrangements have been made in all the booths.

A total of 4,307 polling booths have been set up for the elections. Of these, 896 have been identified as hyper-sensitive and 2,445 as sensitive.

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New Delhi (PTI): Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday said the people of Gujarat have reaffirmed their faith in the politics of development, stability and good governance as the BJP swept the local body elections by winning all 15 municipal corporations and 33 out of 34 district panchayats in the state.

Thanking the voters, Pradhan said the result is a testament to the people's unwavering trust in the BJP, the relentless hard work of the party workers and the strength of the organisation under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the leadership of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel.

“The people of Gujarat have once again made it clear that their trust remains firmly aligned with the politics of development, stability and good governance. I express my heartfelt gratitude to the people of Gujarat for the support received by the BJP in the local body elections,” Pradhan posted on X.

“Under the guidance of the Hon'ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the leadership of Gujarat's Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, this result is a remarkable testament to the people's unwavering trust, the relentless hard work of the Gujarat BJP workers, and the strength of the organisation,” he added.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked the people of Gujarat for what he termed a "sweeping mandate" in the local body polls, saying the bond between the state and the BJP has grown even stronger.

Modi said people have voted for the politics of good governance, and assured that the party would work harder to take Gujarat to new heights of progress.

Though final results for 250 taluka panchayats and 84 municipalities were awaited, data from the State Election Commission (SEC) showed that the ruling BJP won most of these local bodies while some were bagged by the Congress, AAP and Independents.

Polling was held on Sunday for 15 municipal corporations, 84 municipalities, 34 district panchayats and 260 taluka panchayats.

The BJP emerged a clear winner in the municipal corporations of Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar and Rajkot, besides the newly created municipal corporations of Navsari, Gandhidham, Morbi, Vapi, Anand, Nadiad, Mehsana, Porbandar and Surendranagar.