Ahmedabad:Polling was underway on Sunday at more than 23,000 booths for elections to 8,690 village panchayats in Gujarat, with tight security arrangements and COVID-19 protocols in place, officials said. The polls are being seen as a major test for political parties ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections due in December next year.
A gram panchayat election is fought by a candidate in his/her personal capacity and not on symbol of any political party. The candidate, however, remains affiliated to one party or another. On Sunday, voters queued up since 7 am to elect heads of various village panchayats and ward member. The polling will continue till 6 pm.
Counting of votes will be held on December 21.
A total 27,200 candidates are in the fray for the elections of sarpanch and 1,19,998 for panchayat members.
As many as 1,165 village panchayats and 9,613 wards were declared as "totally uncontested", where representatives were elected unopposed, as per the Gujarat State Election Commission. Such panchayats are called 'samras' in Gujarat.