Counting of votes underway for elections to 3,894 gram panchayats in Gujarat

Ahmedabad: Counting of votes for the June 22 elections to 3,894 gram panchayats in Gujarat is underway on Wednesday, the State Election Commission (SEC) said.

The counting commenced at 9 am at 239 places across the state. Till afternoon, results of nearly 2,400 seats of panchayat members and 700 seats of sarpanchs were declared, it said in a release.

The panchayat elections were held to elect 3,656 sarpanchs and 16,224 panchayat members. A voter turnout of around 72 per cent had been recorded in the polls held on Sunday. It was the first such exercise after the 27 per cent OBC quota was announced for local bodies in 2023.

Out of the 8,326 gram panchayats, elections were held for 3,895 panchayats because several rural bodies have been declared partially or fully uncontested or vacant, the SEC said.

Gram panchayat elections are usually not contested on party lines. Candidates do not fight on party tickets, though they may be affiliated with political parties.

The elections were conducted using ballot papers and voters were given the NOTA (none of the above) option, the SEC said in a release.

This is the first time that elections are being held on a big scale in Gujarat after the state government in August 2023 announced a 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Communities (OBCs) in panchayats, municipalities and civic corporations on recommendations of the Zaveri Commission's report.

Earlier, the OBC reservation in local bodies was capped at 10 per cent.