Polling for gram panchayats in Punjab was underway amid tight security arrangements on Tuesday.
Officials said voting for the posts of sarpanch and panch began through ballot boxes at 8am and would continue till 4pm. After the polling, the votes will be counted at the polling stations.
There are 19,110 polling booths, 1,187 of them marked as hyper-sensitive, for the election. There are 13,225 panchayats in the state.
According to an official, 9,398 gram panchayats will elect their sarpanches.
The officials said 3,798 candidates for the post of sarpanch have already been elected unopposed.
Bathinda district saw 27.72% voter turnout till noon.
Elderly people, women and youth were seen standing in queues outside many polling booths.
The elections are being held without symbols of political parties as a consequence of the Punjab Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2024, passed last month by the Vidhan Sabha.
There are 1.33 crore registered voters for this election.
Polling at Mansa Khurd village in Mansa district was hit after errors in ballot papers were found. Deputy commissioner Kulwant Singh said a report is being sent to the state election commission for further action.
Polling was delayed at Lakhmir Ke Utad village near Mamdot town in Ferozepur district. Villagers held a dharna outside polling station, claiming the names of 441 eligible voters were missing from the voters’ list for the panchayat elections. District officials were at the spot to pacify the protesters.
As many as 25,588 candidates are in the fray for the posts of sarpanch and 80,598 contestants are standing for the posts of panch, the officials said.
Around 96,000 personnel have been deputed on election duty.
On Monday, chief minister Bhagwant Mann appealed to the people to exercise their franchise freely and fairly.
The Punjab and Haryana high court had on Monday dismissed a bunch of petitions filed against the panchayat polls on several grounds, including ward demarcation, delimitation, grievances about poll symbols, extension of time for nominations, and rejection of nomination papers.
