Panchayat polls held in Punjab amid tight security

Polling to elect gram panchayat members was conducted from 8am to 4pm in Punjab amid tight security, officials said in Chandigarh on Tuesday.
Votes for the posts of sarpanch and panch were cast through ballots for which counting began at the polling stations after polling concluded, the officials said.
Till 2 pm, a voter turnout of 44% was recorded, they said.
Jalandhar district saw a turnout of 48% till 2pm followed by Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar with 46.71%, Kapurthala 42% and Hoshiarpur 41.2%. In Malwa, Mansa district witnessed a 56.5% turnout till 2pm, Bathinda 56.26%, Fazilka 54.41%, Faridkot 49%, Moga 38.65% and Ludhiana 41% turnout.
The officials said 3,798 candidates for the post of sarpanch have already been elected unopposed.
A firing incident was reported outside a polling booth in Sohan Sain Bhagat village in Tarn Taran district, leaving a man injured. Mandeep Singh was rushed to a hospital where his condition was stated to be out of danger.
A police official said a scuffle took place between two groups, adding that the matter is being investigated.
Two people were injured in an alleged firing incident at Khuda village in Sanour block of Patiala during voting for the panchayat elections. The injured have been admitted to a private hospital. Patiala MP Dharamvira Gandhi reached the polling station at Khuda, where a probe into allegations of booth capturing is being conducted.
Punjab agriculture minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian, along with his son, cast his vote at Khudian village in Muktsar district, while education minister Harjot Singh Bains exercised his franchise at Gambhirpur village in Anandpur Sahib.
The state election commission cancelled the polling in Dalla and Pona villages in Ludhiana’s Jagraon sub division due to certain technical reasons. The next date of polling in these villages would be announced later, the officials said.
A total of 19,110 polling booths, including 1,187 marked as hyper-sensitive, were set up for the election. The state has 13,225 gram panchayats.
The post of sarpanch has been vacant in 9,398 gram panchayats, an official said, adding that 3,798 candidates have already been elected unopposed for the posts of sarpanch.
Elderly people, women and youngsters were seen standing in queues outside several polling booths in the morning.
The polls are being held without symbols of political parties as a consequence of the Punjab Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2024 passed by the Assembly last month.
A total of 1.33 crore people are eligible to vote in the election.
There are 25,588 candidates in the fray for the posts of sarpanch and 80,598 are contesting the polls for the posts of panch, the officials said.
Around 96,000 personnel have been deputed on election duty.
The Punjab and Haryana high court had on Monday dismissed a bunch of petitions filed against the panchayat polls on several grounds, including ward demarcation, delimitation, grievances about poll symbols, extension of time for nominations, and rejection of nomination papers.