All set for gram panchayat polls today

Hyderabad: All arrangements are in place for the first phase polls to Gram Panchayats on Monday. Notification for the elections was issued on January 7. As many as 3,701 Gram Panchayats would elect the sarpanches and ward members (28,976). The polling would be held from 7 am to 1 pm and the counting of the votes would be taken up from 2 pm onwards. The results would be announced on the same day.

In the first phase, polls are scheduled to be held to elect 4,479 sarpanches and 39,822 ward members. Out of them 769 sarpanches and 10,600 ward members were elected unanimously. According to the information from the State Election Commission about 12,000 are in the fray for the remaining sarpanch posts and about 70,000 for the remaining ward member posts.

In many of the Gram Panchayats the elections for sarpanch posts are witnessing triangular and quadrangular contests as thousands of village leaders are in the fray to test their luck. The polls would be held with ballot papers and the poll staff and required material has reached the villages. The police have made elaborate security arrangement for the peaceful conduct of the polls.