The polling for first phase of panchayat elections in Rajasthan, covering 26,800 wards of 2,726 village panchayats, was largely peaceful on Friday, barring stray incidents of disputes between rival groups of rural voters and minor tiffs with the poll officials. Electronic voting machines were used for the first time for panchayat polls in the State.
According to the State Election Commission, about 74% of the 93.20 lakh voters exercised their franchise till 5 p.m., while a large number of voters who had entered the polling stations till then were waiting in the queues for casting votes in the late evening.
Counting starts Friday
State Election Commissioner P.S. Mehra said that 17,242 candidates for the posts of sarpanch and 42,000 candidates for the posts of panch were in the fray in 87 Panchayat Samiti areas. Counting of votes for sarpanches was scheduled for Friday night after the completion of polling.
Police controlled a dispute between the supporters of two candidates at Bharatpur district’s Bhori village panchayat, while a youth allegedly assaulted a policeman on duty at the polling booth at Ajitgarh in Sikar district after the latter's instructions to stand in the queue. The youth was detained and taken to the police station.
The voters in Nagaur district’s Maulasar village alleged bogus voting by a man who was found wearing women's clothes.
The villagers in Bhojpura, situated in Kota district’s Arampura panchayat, boycotted the polling while alleging that the government officials were not paying heed to their complaints about monkeys and blue bulls destroying crops in their agricultural fields.
A primary school teacher, who was on duty at Lakshmi Kheda polling centre in Bhilwara district's Bijolia, died of cardiac arrest during the polling.
The State government announced a financial assistance of ₹20 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased, Ratan Lal Bunkar.
