The State Election Commission (SEC) announced on Monday that elections for sarpanch and members would be held in 10,879 gramme panchayats across Gujarat on December 19.
According to State Election Commissioner Sanjay Prasad, the five-year tenure of 10,117-gramme panchayats will end in December, while polls will be held in 65 panchayats due to splitting or dissolution of existing bodies, as well as bypolls in 697 panchayats where seats fell vacant due to various reasons.
“In total, nearly 2.06 crore voters will choose 10,284 sarpanches and 89,702 panchayat members from 10,879 gramme panchayats. Across the state, there are approximately 14,000 gramme panchayats and 18,500 gramme panchayats. The deadline for submitting nominations is December 4, and the deadline for withdrawing is December 7 “He added that the model code of conduct associated with these polls was now in effect.
“On December 19, polling stations will be open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. in over 27,000 locations. The votes will be counted on December 21. Due to a large number of wards, voting will be done with ballot boxes rather than EVMs. Over 54,000 ballot boxes will be used in total for the elections “Prasad stated.
He stated that over 5,000 election officials, 1.5 lakh poll workers, and over 58,000 police officers will be deployed.
Gram panchayat elections are not fought on party lines, and candidates must run in their individual capacity, with voters electing one sarpanch and a set number of panchayat members..