PIONEER NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun
The process of filing the nomination papers for the Panchayat elections in the 12 districts of the State (barring Haridwar) ended on Saturday. More than 32,000 candidates filed their nominations for the polls. A total of 32,239 candidates had filed their nomination papers for 66,418 posts till Friday evening while the final figures were being compiled by the authorities on Saturday till the time of this report being filed. The villagers in many areas have chosen candidates unanimously due to which only one candidate filed papers there.
The Panchayat election will be held in two phases. The voting for the first phase will be on July 24 while for the second phase will be on July 28.
After the end of the process of filing of the nomination papers, the scrutiny of the nomination papers will be done from July 7 to 9 while the candidates can withdraw their nomination papers from 8 AM to 3 PM on July 10 and 11. The symbols will be allotted on July 14 and 18 for the first and second phase respectively. The voting for the first and second phase will be held from 8 AM to 5 PM on July 24 and 28 respectively. The counting of the votes will commence at 8 AM on July 31 for both the phases and the process will continue till the official declaration of the results.
The Panchayat elections will be held in 89 blocks of 12 districts of the State barring Haridwar. A total of 47,77,072 ( 23,10,996 female, 24,65,702 male) voters will exercise their franchise in the elections. The voters will elect 55,587 Gram Panchayat members, 7,499 Gram Pradhans, 2,974 members of block Panchayat and 358 members of the district Panchayat. The elected members of block Panchayats will elect block Pramukhs while the elected district Panchayat members will elect district Panchayat presidents in 12 districts.
The SEC has made arrangements for ballot papers of different colours- white for member of Gram Panchayat, green for Pradhan, blue for member of block Panchayat and pink for member of district Panchayat- for these elections. The commision has set up 8,276 polling stations and 10,529 polling booths for the Panchayat elections. The commission will take services of 95,909 employees, 3,342 light vehicles and 2,278 heavy vehicles will be taken for the smooth conduction of the Panchayat polls in the State. The commission will also deploy 55 general observers and 12 reserved observers in the elections. The maximum expenditure limit for member of Gram Panchayat is Rs 10,000 while it is Rs 75,000 each for Pradhan and member of block Panchayat and Rs 2,00,000 for member of district Panchayat.
