Raipur, Dec 23 (PTI) Elections to panchayat bodies in Chhattisgarh numbering more than 11,800 will be held in three phases in January-February, the State Election Commission (SEC) announced on Monday.

Announcing the poll schedule at a press conference here, State Election Commissioner Thakur Ram Singh said voting for panchayat bodies will be held on January 28, January 31 and February 3.

With the announcement of polls, the model code of conduct has come into force in 27 zilla panchayats, 146 janpad panchayats and 11,664 gram panchayats (total 11,837), he said.

A total of 29,525 polling booths will be established for the panchayat polls in which as many as 1,44,68,763 voters will be eligible to exercise their franchise, he added.

The polls will elect 400 zila panchayat members, 2,979 janpad panchayat members, 11,664 sarpanches and 1,60,725 panches.

Every electorate will have to vote for four posts - zila panchayat member, janpad panchayat member, sarpanch and panch, Singh said.

In the first phase, voting will be held at 12,484 polling booths for panchayats coming under 57 janpad areas. The second phase will cover 36 janpad areas and have 6,289 polling booths, while the third phase will cover 53 janpad areas and have 10,714 booths.

According to the schedule, notification for all three phases will be issued on December 30, setting in motion the process of filing nominations.

The last date for receiving nominations for all three phases is January 6 and their scrutiny will take place the next day.

The last date for withdrawal of candidature for all three phases is January 9.

Elaborate security arrangements will be made at all polling stations to ensure fair and peaceful voting, Singh said.

Counting will be held in respective polling booths soon after the polling is over in each phase, he said.

However, if it is deemed necessary to carry out counting process at block headquarters in case of any issue, then such counting will be held on January 29, February 1 and February 4 for the first, second and third phase, respectively, Singh said.

The tabulation process followed by announcement of results will be carried out on January 30 for the first phase, February 2 for second and February 5 for the third phase for the posts of panch, sarpanch and panpad panchayat members.

Similarly, the tabulation process followed by announcement of results for the post of zila panchayat members will be carried out on January 31 for the first phase, February 3 for second and February 6 for the third phase. PTI

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