JAIPUR: Polling began on Saturday for the first phase of panch and sarpanch elections in Rajasthan, with voting being held in 3,314 gram panchayats across 16 districts of the state.
A total of 16,795 candidates are in the fray for sarpanch posts, while elections are also being held for 28,682 ward panch seats.
Polling will continue till 6 pm, following which counting of votes will be taken up and results are expected by late evening.
The elections are being held in Ajmer, Alwar, Barmer, Bhilwara, Bikaner, Dungarpur, Jaipur, Jhalawar, Jodhpur, Kota, Nagaur, Pali, Phalodi, Rajsamand, Sirohi and Udaipur districts.
These are the same 16 districts where polling for zila parishad and panchayat samiti members was held on October 22.
Barmer has the highest number of gram panchayats going to polls at 419, followed by Bhilwara with 326, Phalodi with 305 and Udaipur with 284.
Bhilwara has the highest number of sarpanch candidates at 2,097, followed by Dungarpur with 1,594, Jaipur with 1,525 and Udaipur with 1,480.
According to election data, 2,905 Gram Panchayats have between one and nine candidates for sarpanch, while 311 have between 10 and 19 candidates. Two gram panchayats have between 20 and 29 candidates.
In Barmer, elections are being held for 3,025 ward panch seats, the highest among the 16 districts, followed by Bhilwara with 2,872 and Udaipur with 2,466 seats.
Unlike zila parishad and panchayat samiti elections, panch and sarpanch elections are not contested on political party symbols. Candidates are allotted election symbols by the State Election Commission, although political parties often extend support to candidates at the village level.
The panchayati raj elections in Rajasthan are being held in four phases for 41 zila parishads, 457 panchayat samitis and 14,403 gram panchayats.
Under the revised schedule, polling for zila parishad and panchayat samiti members is being held on October 22, October 28, November 3 and November 14, while panch and sarpanch elections are scheduled for October 24, October 30, November 5 and November 16, respectively.
Counting of votes for zila parishad and panchayat samiti members will take place on November 20.
The indirect elections for up-sarpanch posts in the gram panchayats covered under the first phase are scheduled for October 25.
