Gujarat gram panchayat polls conclude; exercise mostly peaceful barring stray incidents of violence

Ahmedabad: Voting in 3,894 gram panchayats in Gujarat concluded at 6pm on Sunday in a largely peaceful manner, though stray incidents of violence were reported from some districts, officials said.

Around 81 lakh people were eligible to exercise their franchise to elect 3,656 sarpanchs and 16,224 panchayat members. The State Election Commission (SEC) is yet to announce the voter turnout.

However, despite rains in some parts of the state, long queues were seen at many of the 10,479 polling stations set up for the exercise.

Officials said group clashes were reported in Dahod and Kutch districts, while misprinting in ballot papers in some villages in Sabarkantha and Vadodara district affected the voting process.

In Panchmahal district, the son of a candidate for the post of sarpanch was attacked by rival groups in Dhanitra village and has been hospitalised, they added.

In a village in Banaskantha district, a 95-year-old woman arrived to exercise her franchise with her grandson amid heavy rains. Centenarian Kamiben Suthar (103) turned up to vote in the same district, setting an example for others to emulate.

Kheda MLA Arjunsinh Chauhan and former Tharad MLA Gujlabsinh Rajput were among the early voters. Minister Mukesh Patel also exercised his franchise in a village in Surat district.

"Panchayat is an important pillar of democracy, so the right candidate should win the elections. I would appeal to people to record 100 per cent voting," Chauhan said.

The counting of votes will take place on June 25.

The SEC had identified 3,939 polling stations as sensitive and 336 as highly sensitive.

Out of 8,326 gram panchayats, for which elections were declared on May 25, general and mid-term polls are being held for 3,541, and bypolls for 353 panchayats. As many as 1,023 gram panchayats have been declared uncontested and vacant with no candidate filing nomination, the SEC said.

The SEC said gram panchayat polls in six talukas under the Kadi and Visavadar assembly seats were cancelled due to by-elections held there on Thursday.

Gram panchayat elections are not contested on party lines. Candidates do not fight on party tickets, though they may be affiliated with political parties.

This is the first time that elections are being held on a big scale after the state government announced 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in panchayats, municipalities and civic corporations in August 2023 on recommendations of the Jhaveri Commission's report. Earlier, quota for Other Backward Classes in local bodies was capped at 10 per cent.

After the Supreme Court ruled that the OBC reservation should be proportionate to their population, the state government, in July 2022, set up the KS Jhaveri Commission to gather and analyse data on the nature and implications of backwardness in local bodies.

The existing quota for Scheduled Castes (14 per cent) and Scheduled Tribes (7 per cent) in local bodies remained unchanged, and there has been no breach of the 50 per cent reservation ceiling.