UP panchayat polls: 36.39 pc turnout till 1 pm in third phase

Lucknow, Apr 26 (PTI) A turnout of about 36.39 per cent was recorded till 1 pm in the third phase of the Uttar Pradesh panchayat polls, for which over 2.72 lakh candidates are in the fray on 2.14 lakh seats across 20 districts of the state.

"Voting started at 7 am on a peaceful note. It will continue till 6 pm. Till 1 pm, 36.39 per cent voting was done," a State Election Commission (SEC) official said here.

In the current phase, the elections are being held in Shamli, Meerut, Moradabad, Pilibhit, Kasganj, Firozabad, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Fatehpur, Unnao, Amethi, Barabanki, Balrampur, Siddharthanagar, Deoria, Chandauli, Mirzapur and Ballia.

According to the officials, Firozabad recorded the maximum 39.67 per cent polling till 1 pm.

For 746 posts of zila panchayat member, 10,416 candidates are in the fray while 88,584 people are contesting for 18,530 posts of kshetra panchayat member.

As many as 1,16,162 candidates are contesting for 14,379 village panchayats and 57,649 for 1,80,473 village panchayat wards.

In the first two phases, 71 per cent polling was recorded.

Voting for the fourth phase will be held on April 29 and the counting will take place on May 2. The Allahabad High Court had asked the Uttar Pradesh government to conclude the panchayat election process by May 25. PTI ABN RDK RDK