Voting for final phase of Gram Panchayat polls in K'taka ends; 80.71 polling percent recorded
Bengaluru: The polling for second and final phase of Gram Panchayat elections in Karnataka concluded on Sunday with 80.71 per cent of voters exercising their franchise till 5 pm.
The counting of votes will be taken up on December 30.
The State election commission said in a statement that 80.71 per cent voting took place without any major untoward incident.
The polling began at 7 am and came to a close at 5 pm, the state election commission officials said. Voting took place across 2,709 village panchayats in 109 Taluks of the state.
Officials noted that 1,05,431 candidates were in the fray for 39,378 seats at 20,728 booths in the final phase.
A total of 3,697 candidates have been elected unopposed already. The first phase of the election had taken place on December 22. In all, elections took place in 5,728 villages in 226 Taluks of the state for 72,616 seats.
As many as 2,22,814 candidates contested the election whereas 8,074 candidates were elected unopposed. There were 2.94 lakh voters in the Panchayat elections.
In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, masks and social distancing were made mandatory. The Commission had made special arrangements for the COVID-19 infected people to cast their votes.
Accordingly, towards the end of the day 122 COVID-19 patients turned up and exercised their franchise. The number of voters in each booth was reduced from 1,500 to 1,000.
For the final phase, 80,000 policemen and security personnel were deployed for the safe conduct of elections.
Besides them, Anganwadi, ASHA workers and Health Department officials were also roped in for poll duty.
Though these polls don't take place on party symbols, all political parties have put in efforts to ensure that the candidate supported by them wins, so as to have their hold on grassroot level politics, which may prove advantageous for them in taluk or zilla panchayat and even assembly polls whenever it happens.
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Rahul Gandhi to go on two-day Raebareli visit from May 19
Raebareli (UP) (PTI): Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP from Raebareli Rahul Gandhi will arrive here on May 19 on a two-day visit, a Congress office-bearer said on Monday.
Congress district president of Raebareli Pankaj Tiwari said that on the first day, Gandhi will inaugurate a marriage hall at Thakurain Kheda in Bachhrawan. Subsequently, he will address a public meeting in Khiron. In Lalganj, he will participate in a 'mahila samvaad' programme.
He further said that on May 20, he will meet the public during a 'Janata Darshan' programme at the Bhuyemau Guest House. Following this, he will participate in the unveiling of a statue of Veera Pasi and attend a public meeting in Lodhwari.
He will then depart for Amethi.
In Amethi, Gandhi will hold meetings with party functionaries, workers and senior leaders at the party's district headquarters, Congress district unit chief Pradeep Singhal said on Sunday.
According to political observers, this meeting would form a part of the strategic preparations for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, alongside an organisational review.
Discussions during the meeting are likely to focus on strengthening the party organisation down to the booth level, increasing participation of youth and women workers, and accelerating public outreach campaigns across villages.
According to sources, a large number of party workers -- from Gram Sabha to the district level -- have been invited to attend the meeting.
Gandhi is expected to interact directly with workers.
During the one-day visit, the Congress leader will also travel to Poore Ramdeen Pandit -- the native village of late Congress district president Yogendra Mishra -- to meet his family members.
Mishra, considered a close associate of the Gandhi family, passed away on March 1 following a prolonged illness.
Political activities in the district have intensified ahead of Gandhi's visit, and party workers have already started making arrangements for his reception.
Kishori Lal Sharma, the Congress MP from Amethi, is also holding regular meetings with local leaders and functionaries to review the preparations.
