The state election commission said the three-phase panchayat elections held this week saw a voter turnout of 80.40 per cent with 39.19 lakh people turning up to cast their votes. The women outnumbered men in voting as the turnout was 82.10 per cent among women against 78.70 per cent among men, the commission said. A total of 260 coronavirus patients and persons under isolation also participated in the voting by following standard operating procedures.
As many as 3,586 out of 3,615 panchayats in the state went to polls, with 69,408 candidates contesting for the posts of panchayat ward members, village heads and deputy heads. For the 81 panchayat samitis in the state, 6,725 people contested across 1,644 wards and for the 12 zila parishads, 1,125 candidates contested in 239 wards.
In most of the panchayats, counting has been done and the results declared, while the process was underway for panchayat samitis and zila parishads on Friday. The entire election process is scheduled to get completed by Saturday, according to election officials.
Elections to panchayati raj institutions in Himachal are not held on party symbols.
