Panchayat polls in 15 districts across State today

 The second phase of elections to the zilla panchayats (ZP) and taluk panchayats (TP) will be held in 15 districts in the State on Saturday.

Polling will be held between 7 am and 5 pm. Like in the first phase, electronic voting machines will be used. Indelible ink would be applied on the left thumb of the voter.

The districts where polls will be held are Mysuru, Chikkamagaluru, Dakshina Kannada, Hassan, Kodagu, Mandya, Udupi, Bidar, Ballari, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Raichur, Koppal and Vijayapura. Barring one ZP seat in Raichur and three seats in TPs, where candidates have been elected unopposed, elections will be held for 530 seats in 15 ZPs and 1,936 seats in TPs. 

In the first phase on February 13, 15 districts were covered. The voting percentage was 74.37 per cent. State Election Commissioner P N Srinivasachari said there were nearly 1.49 crore eligible voters for the second phase. As many as 20,000 police personnel would be on duty to provide security at polling booths and nearly two lakh government employees are on polling duty. The counting of votes will take place on February 23. “We have tied up with the National Informatics Centre to provide information on the poll outcome on the official website. We would probably be able to give the results by noon,” he said.