Hyderabad, Dec 17 (IANS) Polling was underway for the third and final phase of Gram Panchayat elections in Telangana on Wednesday.

Elections were being held for 3,752 Sarpanch posts and 28,410 Ward Members in 182 mandals across 31 districts.

Around 12,652 candidates have entered the fray for Sarpanch posts, while as many as 75,725 are contesting forward membership.

Around 53 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise at 36,483 polling stations across the state.

The polling, which began at 7 a.m., will continue till 1 p.m. Counting of votes will be taken up from 2 p.m.

Cold wave conditions impacted voter turnout in a few districts in north Telangana.

The State Election Commission (SEC) had issued a notification for 4,159 Gram Panchayats for polling in the third phase.

Sarpanches were elected unanimously for 394 villages while no nominations were filed for 11 Gram Panchayats. Elections for two Panchayats could not be held due to court orders.

Of the 36,452 ward member seats notified, 7,908 were elected unanimously, elections were stayed in 18 wards, and nominations were not received for 116 wards.

State Election Commissioner Rani Kumudini was monitoring the polling process from her office in Hyderabad through CCTV footage and the dashboard.

The SEC deployed 43,856 ballot boxes for the polling. It also arranged webcasting at 3,547 polling stations for enhanced transparency and monitoring.

Over 80 per cent polling was recorded in the first two phases of elections held on December 11 and 14.

The Congress party bagged more than half of the Gram Panchayats in both phases.

Congress-backed candidates won 4,579 out of 8,568 Panchayat posts. The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) stood second with 2,357 seats. The BJP could win only 457, while Independents and others bagged 1,162 seats.

Last month, the SEC issued a notification for elections to 12,728 Sarpanch posts and 1,12,242 Ward Member posts.

A total of 1.66 crore votes in rural areas are eligible to cast their votes in these elections.

Elections for Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTCs), Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTCs) and municipal corporations will be held after the High Court’s final orders on 42 per cent reservation for Backward Classes (BCs).

In October, the High Court struck down a government order providing 42 per cent reservation for BCs in local bodies but allowed conduct of the elections with a 50 per cent cap on total reservation for all sections.

–IANS

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