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Hyderabad: Phase one of Telangana gram panchayat elections have begun on Thursday, December 11. Polls are being held for 3,834 sarpanch posts and 27,628 ward member seats. The voting began at 7 am and will go on till 1 am.
The voter turnout till 9 am stood at 19.585, tv9 telugu reported.
A total of 12,960 candidates are contesting for Sarpanch posts while 65,455 are contesting for ward member posts. Over 56 lakh voters are eligible to cast their ballots at 37,562 polling stations in 189 mandals.
When will officials declare results?
The counting of votes will take place immediately after polling closes and results will be declared today. Right after the results are declared, meetings with ward members will be held to elect deputy sarpanches.
The contest is being seen as a test for the ruling Congress and opposition parties BRS and BJP even though the election is conducted on a non-party basis.
Meanwhile, sarpanches for 396 gram panchayats and 9,633 ward members have been elected unanimously.
Speaking to the media, State Election Commissioner Rani Kumidini said that they expect the turnout to be higher than last year. The remaining two phases of the election will be held on December 14, 17.
MPTC, ZPTC elections stayed by Telangana HC:
The gram panchayat elections are being held after Telangana High Court struck down a GO providing 42 percent reservations for BCs in local body elections. The elections will be held after the high court’s final verdict on the reservation.
