Punjab Zila Parishad, Panchayat Samiti Elections 2018: Polling Begins, Results to be Declared on September 22

Amritsar, Sep 19: Polling for the Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections 2018 began in Punjab on Wednesday. 22 zila parishads and 150 panchayat samitis went to polls. The local body polls witnessed a tringular contest between the ruling Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine. Polling will continue till 4 pm, while the counting of votes will take place on Saturday.

A total of 354 zila parishad seats and 2,900 panchayat seats will be up for grabs. However, in Majha zone, the Congress has won 25 per cent of seats unopposed. As many as 1,27,87,395 total registered voters are eligible to exercise their right to franchise. Of these, 60,99,053 are female voters and 97 from the third gender. A total of 17,268 polling booths are set up for the Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections.

Elaborate security arrangemnets have been made for free and fair elections, the state election commission said. As many as, 86,340 personnel have been deployed on election duty. Punjab police have deployed 50,000 of its personnel to prevent untoward incident durling polling. Since most public schools and colleges have been earmarked as voting centres, a holiday has been declared in the state. Punjab: AAP Candidate for Zila Parishad Polls Harvinder Singh Hinda Found Murdered in Bathinda.

Ahead of the polling, the Congress expressed confidence over registering a “clean sweep” in the local body polls. The AAP and the SAD-BJP combine said there would be a surprise “provided the state election commission ensures free and fair elections.” Kin of a few state ministers, including Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhbinder Sarkaria, and some legislators, including Fatehjang Bajwa, Balvinder Singh are also in the fray.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 19, 2018 08:25 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).