Gram Panchayat polls: Results of 72K seats will be known on Wednesday

BENGALURU: The fate of 2.22 lakh Gram Panchayat candidates will be clear on Wednesday, with counting of votes starting at 8am Wednesday. About 8,000 candidates have already been elected unopposed, while votes were polled for about 72,000 seats, spread across 5,700 gram panchayats.

The results are likely to come in by evening, since paper ballots are used for this election. Each round of counting is likely to take two hours, and counting agents are changed after each round. Clear results can be expected only after the third and fourth rounds, insiders said, and the State Election Commission website will carry updates and results.    

State Election Commissioner Dr Basavaraj told TNIE that he had visited Mandya, Maddur, Channapatna and Ramanagara on Tuesday and expressed satisfaction with the arrangements, especially the strongrooms. 

He said that arrangements for counting had been made at each taluk headquarters. In each district, Deputy Commissioners and the district administration had taken charge of counting centres. Often in gram panchayat elections, people mark more than one name on the ballot paper, he added.