1,863 sarpanchs and 22,203 panches elected unopposed in Punjab

Chandigarh: As many as 28,375 sarpanch candidates will try their luck in panchayat elections on December 30 for 13,276 panchayats in Punjab, a state Election Commission spokesman said on Sunday.

The spokesman said that 1,863 sarpanches (village headmen) have been elected unopposed after the end of the withdrawal process of nomination papers on Sunday.

As many as 22,203 panches have been elected unopposed while 104,027 candidates will contest for the remaining posts of panches (village council member).

Authorities in Punjab had received 210,494 nominations for panchayat elections in the state. Out of these 48,111 nominations papers were filed for the post of sarpanches and 162,383 nominations papers filed for the post of panches.

Voting for 13,276 panchayats will be held on December 30.

The spokesman said that 83,831 panches would be elected for 13,276 panchayats.

Out of these, 17,811 seats are for Scheduled Castes, 12,634 for Scheduled Caste Women, 22,690 for general category women, 4,381 for Backward Classes and 26,315 seats are for the general category.

There are total of over 1.27 crore registered voters in the state for these elections.The commission has established 17,268 polling booths and 86,340 personnel will be deputed on election duty.

The Congress has been in power in Punjab since March 2017.

The opposition Shiromani Akali Dal has accused the Congress government of getting nomination papers of its candidates rejected at a number of places.