Rural Local Body Polls Off To A Peaceful Start; Next Phase On Monday

Stray incidents of violence reported from across State

Polling in the first phase of the much-delayed elections to rural local bodies was largely peaceful in the 27 districts where it was held. There were stray incidents of violence, drama, boycotts, stealing of ballot boxes, missing symbols of candidates, and mix-up of ballot papers.

Of the 27 districts going to the polls in the two phases — the second phase will be held on December 30 — voters queued up to elect members to 260 district panchayat wards, 2,546 panchayat unions, and 37,830 village panchayats.

A total of 2,31, 890 candidates are in the fray for both phases, of which 18,570 have already been elected unopposed. A total of 1.30 crore voters were eligible to vote in the first phase.

Ministers vote