Haryana panchayat poll sees 50% voting till 2 pm

The polling is being held for the post of 2,683 sarpanches and 25,655 panches in 57 blocks of various districts

Around 50 per cent turnout was recorded till 2 pm in the second phase of the panchayat elections in nine districts of Haryana on Saturday. The polling is being held for the post of 2,683 sarpanches and 25,655 panches in 57 blocks of Ambala, Charkhi Dadri, Gurugram, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Rewari, Rohtak, Sirsa and Sonipat districts.

The voting began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm, officials said. Men, women and the elderly queued up at polling booths in these districts to cast their votes.

Around 50 per cent polling has been recorded till 2 pm in these nine districts, the officials said.

Ambala recorded 49.9 per cent polling, Charkhi Dadri 53.7 per cent, Gurugram 53.2, Karnal 51.4, Kurukshetra 55.1, Rewari 47.2, Rohtak 44, Sirsa 53.1 and Sonipat 45.7 per cent, according to data compiled by the Haryana State Election Commission.

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There are 48,67,132 eligible voters in the second-phase polling, the officials said. There are 5,963 polling stations in these districts, of which 976 have been categorised as "sensitive" and 1,023 as "highly sensitive", they said.

The second-phase polling for zilla parishads and panchayat samitis of these nine districts was held on November 9.

In the first phase, polling for zilla parishads and panchayat samitis in Bhiwani, Jhajjar, Jind, Kaithal, Mahendragarh, Nuh, Panchkula, Panipat and Yamunanagar was held on October 30 and voting to elect sarpanches and panches was held on November 2.

The third and final phase of polling in the remaining districts to elect members of zilla parishad and panchayat samitis will be held on November 22 and that of sarpanches and panches of gram panchayats on November 25.

While the results of the sarpanch and panch polls will be declared at the end of voting in each phase, those of zilla parishads and panchayat samiti members will be declared on November 27 after all the three phases are completed.