Voting for the first phase of panchayat polls in Himachal Pradesh started at 7 am on Tuesday across 1,293 panchayats, even as a heatwave warning was issued in six of the state’s 12 districts, officials said.
Over 16.5 lakh voters are eligible to cast their ballots to elect more than 9,000 candidates, including gram panchayat members, pradhans, up-pradhans, panchayat samiti members and zila parishad members.
The elections are being conducted using ballot papers instead of party symbols. Voting will continue till 3 pm.
Officials from the state election department said results for gram panchayat members, pradhans and up-pradhans will be declared later the same day, while results for panchayat samiti and zila parishad seats will be announced on May 31.
The ballot papers are colour-coded — white for ward members, yellow for up-pradhans, green for pradhans, pink for panchayat samiti members and blue for zila parishad members.
About 50.89 lakh voters will choose 31,182 public representatives in the three-phase elections, including 3,754 pradhans, 3,754 up-pradhans, 21,654 ward members, 1,769 panchayat samiti members and 251 zila parishad members.
As many as 10,854 candidates have already been declared elected unopposed. Voting for the second and third phases will take place on May 28 and 30.
Meanwhile, the Shimla Meteorological Office has issued a yellow alert for heatwave conditions in Una, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kangra, Solan and Sirmaur districts for Tuesday.
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