Hyderabad, 11 December (H.S.): The first phase of Telangana’s Gram Panchayat elections concluded peacefully on Thursday, with over 56 lakh voters casting their ballots across 3,834 gram panchayats. Counting of votes commenced soon after the conclusion of polling and is currently underway. The main contest is between the ruling Congress and the BRS, with the BJP also in the fray.
According to Telangana State Election Commission (SEC) sources, data collation on voter turnout is ongoing. Around 13,000 candidates are in the race for Sarpanch positions, while 65,455 nominees are contesting 27,628 wards. Unanimous elections were recorded in 396 gram panchayats. Webcasting was implemented in over 3,000 gram panchayats to enable real-time monitoring of the polling process.
Extensive security arrangements were made, with all polling stations classified as either critical or normal. Police deployment was based on the sensitivity and vulnerability of each location.
The SEC had announced a three-phase schedule on 25 November for gram panchayat elections, set to be held on 11, 14, and 17 December. Following the recent Jubilee Hills assembly bypoll, which Congress won, the Gram Panchayat elections are being viewed as a measure of the popularity of Congress, BRS, and BJP in the state.
Due to legal hurdles over the Congress government’s 42 per cent reservation for Backward Classes in local bodies, elections were conducted only for gram panchayats, while polls for other rural local bodies, including Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) members, were deferred.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
