Chandigarh, October 15 (IANS). Voting is taking place today for the posts of Panch and Sarpanch in Punjab. The fate of about 1.05 lakh candidates is at stake in this election.
Voting will continue till 4 pm, after which counting of votes will be done at the respective polling stations. Despite Congress’s demand to postpone the elections due to alleged irregularities in nominations, the elections are going on amid tight security arrangements.
More than 19,000 polling stations have been created for more than 13,000 gram panchayats.
A total of 3,798 candidates have been unanimously elected for the post of Sarpanch, while 48,861 candidates have been elected for the post of Panch. Whereas elections in 28 Gram Panchayats have been canceled and one has been stayed. As a result, voting is now taking place for 9,398 gram panchayats.
Candidates are barred from using symbols of political parties as per the Punjab Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2024, passed by the assembly last month.
There are a total of 1.33 crore registered voters in the state, of which 70.51 lakh are male and 63.46 lakh are female voters.
“Voting has started at almost all polling stations. Deputy commissioners have been instructed to ensure free and fair elections,” a State Election Commission official said.
On Monday, a Congress delegation led by opposition leader Pratap Singh Bajwa met the Punjab State Election Commissioner and demanded postponement of the panchayat elections by three weeks.
Bajwa said there were “massive irregularities” in the nomination process, with many candidates’ names “wrongfully” rejected. He said that during filing of nomination, many opposition supported candidates were not given necessary no objection certificates.
The Congress had also raised concerns over the use of the voter list of January 1, 2023, instead of the updated list of January 1, 2024, which was used during the Lok Sabha elections.
However, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the state has welcomed Monday’s decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to dismiss the petition related to Panchayat elections and expressed gratitude to the High Court.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann expressed his gratitude to the High Court through X and said that the path for Panchayat elections has now been completely cleared. He urged all Punjabis to vote while maintaining mutual brotherhood and elect good representatives from their villages who can contribute to the development of the village. He also wished all the Sarpanch and Panch candidates for the Panchayat elections.
Aam Aadmi Party leader and senior spokesperson Neel Garg said that the High Court’s decision is a slap on the false propaganda of the opposition parties. He said that Congress was doing pressure politics, but the High Court rejected it. Now the people of Punjab will also reject Congress.
–IANS
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