Chandigarh (Gurpreet Singh): Voters across Punjab headed to polling stations on Sunday as elections for the state’s zila parishads and panchayat samitis got underway. Voting started at 8 am with election authorities putting in place heightened security and administrative arrangements to ensure a smooth process.
The polls are being held to fill seats in 22 zila parishads and 153 panchayat samitis, covering a total of 3,185 electoral zones. With more than 9,000 contestants in the race, the elections are being closely watched as a key indicator of grassroots political sentiment.
Officials said that around 1.36 crore voters are eligible to cast their ballots. Polling will continue until 4 pm, while the results are slated to be declared on December 17 following the counting of votes.
In Ludhiana district, preparations were particularly extensive. District Election Officer Himanshu Jain informed that 12,45,275 voters have been enrolled for the elections. Nearly 10,000 personnel have been deployed to manage election duties and oversee the voting process.
A total of 1,639 polling locations have been set up in the district, including 316 marked as sensitive and 92 categorized as hyper-sensitive. Security forces have been deployed at these sites to prevent any untoward incidents and to ensure voters can exercise their franchise without fear.
Authorities said all necessary measures have been taken to conduct the elections in a free, fair, and peaceful manner across the state.
