As many as 1,299 panchayats in 23 districts of Jharkhand are set to go to polls in the fourth and final round of rural election on Friday, officials said on Thursday.
More than 58.16 lakh voters, including 28.20 lakh women, are eligible to exercise their franchise to decide the political fate of 35,504 candidates.
In the final phase, elections were scheduled to be held for 18,920 posts — 15,875 panchayat members, 1,299 mukhiyas, 1,587 panchayat committee representatives and 159 zilla parishad members.
However, a total of 6,950 candidates have already been declared winners unopposed on posts of 6,811 panchayat members, five mukhiyas, 133 panchayat committee representatives and one zilla parishad member in the fourth phase of the elections, officials said.
Panchayat elections in Jharkhand are not held on party lines.
Altogether 15, 875 polling stations have been set up for the final phase. Of them, 6,785 booths have been declared as sensitive and 4,744 booths hyper sensitive.
“Preparations for the fourth phase polls have been completed. Adequate security arrangements have been ensured to conduct free and fair polling,” a senior election official told PTI.
Polling will start at 7 am and continue till 3 pm. The poll parties are being dispatched to their respective booths, he said.
Panchayat polls in the state are being held in four phases with first phase of polls taking place on May 14. The second and third phases were held on May 19 and 24.
The counting of votes for the second phase of polls, which began on May 22, is still on, while that of the first round was completed. The counting for the third and fourth rounds will take place on May 31.