Uttarakhand records 70% polling in 2nd phase of panchayat polls

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand recorded 70.58 % voting in the second phase of panchayat polls which passed off peacefully amid tight security on Saturday. The turnout of voters was almost 1 % higher than the first phase of voting which was held on October 5.


In the second phase, polling was held in 2,605 gram panchayats in the state’s 12 districts having a total registered voter base of 1450,364, and almost 10,294 candidates in the poll fray, according to state election commission (SEC).

State election commissioner Chandra Shekhar Bhatt said that the maximum voting of 85.45 % was registered at Udham Singh Nagar and the lowest of 59.32 % was recorded at Rudraprayag.

The district-wise break up shows that Dehradun recorded 77.39 % voter turnout, Uttarkashi 78.36 %, Nainital 75.11 %, Tehri Garhwal 69.08 %, Pauri Garhwal 65.02 %, Chamoli 63.59 %, Bageshwar 63.24 %, Pithoragarh 63.04 %, Champawat 64.40 % and Almora 60.12 %.

Bhatt added that initially the voter turnout was slow but it gained pace as the day progressed. Till 10am, the overall voting percentage was 12.70. It gradually progressed to 29.65 % at noon. By 2pm, 46.02 % voters exercised their franchise. And the final count was 70.58 %.

While the two phases of the polling are now over, the third and last phase of voting will be held on October 16. The results for the panchayat elections would be announced on October 31.

For the three-tier panchayat polls, the state election commission has made an extensive plan. A total of 8,051 polling centres have been set up and they would have 9,856 polling booths.

Details provided by the SEC stated that the total number of blocks where the panchayat polls would be held is 89 with the total number of gram panchayats as 7,485. The total posts for gram panchayat members are 55,574, and the number of gram pradhan is 7,485. The total number of block members is 2,984 and 356 posts are for zila panchayat members.

The total number of voters are 43,11 lakh - out of which 22.06 are male and 21.05 are female voters. The district-wise break up shows that Almora has 4.99 lakh voters, Udham Singh Nagar has 6.69 voters, Champawat has 1.70 lakh voters, Nainital has 3.77 lakh voters, Pithoragarh has 3.24 lakh voters, Bageshwar has 1.90 lakh voters, Uttarkashi has 2.15 lakh voters, Chamoli has 2.67 lakh voters, Tehri has 5.48 lakh voters, Dehradun has 4.53 lakh voters, Pauri has 3.99 lakh voters and Rudraprayag has 1.94 lakh voters.