Over 1,850 sarpanches and 22,203 panches elected unopposed in Punjab

Chandigarh: Out of 13,276, a total of 1863 sarpanches and out of 22,203 panches, a total of 83,831 posts have elected unopposed across Punjab in the ongoing panchayat polls process.

In all, 13,276 sarpanches and 83,831 panches are to be elected for 13,276 gram panchayats of Punjab. For December 30 elections, a total of 48,111 nomination papers have been filed for the post of Sarpanches and 1,62,383 for panches.

Spokesperson of the State Election Commission said, "After the end of the nomination withdrawal process for 13,276 gram panchayats, 28,375 candidates for the posts of sarpanch will try their luck."

Spokesperson said that 1,04,027 candidates for the posts of panch will contest the election as 22,203 panches have been elected unopposed.

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In Fatehgarh Sahib district alone, 106 sarpanches out of 427, and 1434 panches out of 2473 posts have been elected unopposed. With this, there are 830 candidates left in fray for the remaining 321 posts of sarpanches and 3,469 candidates for the remaining 1,039 posts of panches, said Additional District Election Officer JaswinderJit Singh Sandhu.

Sandhu said that in Sirhind block, 33 sarpanches and 308 panches, in Khera block, 24 sarpanches and 289 panches were elected unopposed. Interestingly, both these blocks are part of Fatehgarh Sahib constituency represented by Congress MLA Kuljit Singh Nagra.

In Amloh block, 21 sarpanches and 331 panches were elected unopposed. The constituency is represented by Congress MLA Kaka Randeep Singh Nabha, whereas in Bassi Pathana, 19 sarpanches and 286 panches, in Khamano block, nine sarpanches and 220 panches were elected unopposed — both these blocks are part of Bassi Pathana constituency of Congress MLA Gurpreet Singh GP.

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Election Commission spokesperson said:

- The voting would be held on December 30 from 8 am till 4 pm and counting of votes would be held the same day after concluding polling of votes.

- There are total 1,27,87,395 registered voters in the state for panchayat elections, out of which 66,88,245 are male, 60,66,245 female and 97 third gender voters. State Election Commission has set up 17,268 polling booths and 86,340 personnel will be deputed on election duty.

- Elaborating more, he said that the expenditure limit for a candidate contesting for the post of Sarpanch has been fixed at Rs 30,000 whereas the limit for those contesting for post of Panch has been fixed at Rs 20,000.