First phase of panchayat poll in Jharkhand passes off peacefully
Jharkhand went for the rural polls for the first time since its creation on November 15, 2000. There was no election for 32 years when it was part of undivided Bihar.
The first of the five-phase panchayat elections in Jharkhand passed off peacefully today with 47% votes cast.
"There was no untoward incident and voters enthusiastically cast their votes," a senior state election commission official told PTI over phone.
"The percentage was above 47%. We are expecting the final percentage by 5.30pm," he said.
A total of 16,201 candidates, including 9378 women, were in the fray for the first phase for gram panchayat members, mukhias, panchayat samiti members and members for the zila parishad, he said.
Jharkhand went for the rural polls for the first time since its creation on November 15, 2000. There was no election for 32 years when it was part of undivided Bihar.