Rural Uttarakhand is continuing to show enthusiasm to elect its representatives for the three tier Panchayati Raj bodies. In the second phase of polling held on Friday, 70.58 percent of voters turned out to exercise their franchise.
This voter turnout is almost similar to the first phase of the polling held in 30 blocks of the state on October 5 when 69.27 percent voters came out to vote.
The data of the State Election Commission (SEC) showed that a total of 1023645 voters out of total 1455730 registered voters came out to vote in 2605 Village Panchayats of 31 blocks of 12 districts of the state in the second phase.
Like in the first phase, Udham Singh Nagar district recorded a very good voter turnout with 85.45 percent voters coming out to vote. With 59.32 percent voting, Rudraprayag was at bottom of 12 districts where the Panchayat elections were held on Friday. Nainital recorded 75.11 percent voter turnout while in Uttarkashi 78.36 percent voters came out to exercise their franchise. The Dehradun and Champawat districts recorded 77.39 and 64.40 percent voting respectively. In Tehri Garhwal district, 69.08 percent voter turnout was reported while in Chamoli district the voting percentage was 63.59.
High degree of enthusiasm was shown by the women voters and elderly to participate in the elections.
Prabha Devi of Panuwa village of Kalsi block of Dehradun said that she is very happy to cast her vote. “In our village we elected our Pradhan consensually but voting was held for other posts. For the development of our area it is essential for everyone to take part in the process of elections,’’ she said.
The voting for third and last phase of Panchayati Raj election would be held on October 16. The counting of votes would be done on October 21 and the results are expected to be declared on the same day.
Blocks of 12 districts where voting was held on Friday
- Almora district- Chaukhutiya, Dwarahat, Tadikhet and Bhaisiachena blocks
- Pauri district- Yamkeshwar, Dwarikhal, Jaiharikhal, Ekeshwar and Duggada blocks.
- Udham Singh Nagar- Bajpur, Kashipur and Jaspur blocks
- Champawat district- Lohaghat and Barakot
- Pithoragarh district - Berinag, and Gangolihat blocks
- Nainital district -Kotabagh, Dhari and Ramgarh
- Bageshwar district -Garud
- Uttarkashi district- Chinyalisaur and Naugaon blocks
- Chamoli district- Karnprayag, Gairsain and Pokhri blocks
- Tehri district- Dholdhar, Johnpur and Pratapnagar blocks
- Dehradun district - Sahaspur and Kalsi blocks
- Rudraprayag district- Jakholi block
