Gram Panchayat election 2021: Voting underway in 34 districts of Maharashtra

Polling in over 14,000 Gram Panchayats in 34 districts of Maharashtra is underway. There are 27,920 Gram Panchayats in Maharashtra, barring Mumbai city and Mumbai suburban. Polling will end at 5.30 pm, except in four tehsils of Gadchiroli and Gondia districts, where voting will end at 3 pm.

The State Election Commission had announced the dates for the polls in December last year. The model election code of conduct came into force immediately after the announcement.

There 20,000-odd seats in the state where members have been elected unopposed, an election commission official said.

Apart from this, 14 villages have boycotted the Gram Panchayat elections to press for their demand to be a part of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation. With 14 villages boycotting the elections, five Gram Panchayats in the district will not go to polls on Friday, January 15, the official said.

Meanwhile, the State Election Commission had announced that those suffering from coronavirus infection or people who are quarantined can cast their vote half an hour before the polling ends.

The body temperature of voters who are not suffering from COVID-19, but are living in containment zones will be checked twice, it was stated. Voters whose body temperature is higher than the prescribed limit will be given tokens, and they can cast vote half an hour before the polling ends, the Commission had said in a statement released.

All the polling centres and material/equipment have been sanitised in view of the elections, the Commission said.

However, the poll process has been cancelled for Umrane and Khondamali Gram Panchayats in Nashik and Nandurbar districts respectively after it received evidence of public auctioning of the posts of sarpanch and members of the local governing bodies, reports suggested.

The district-wise tally of Gram Panchayats going to polls are as follows: Thane (158), Palghar (3), Raigad (88), Ratnagiri (479), Sindhudurg (70), Nashik (620), Dhule (218), Jalgaon (783), Ahmednagar (767), Nandurbar (86), Pune (748), Solapur (658), Satara (879), Sangli (152), Kolhapur (433), Aurangabad (618), Beed (129), Nanded (1,015), Osmanabad (428), Parbhani (566), Jalna (475), Latur (408), Hingoli (495), Amravati (553), Akola (225), Yavatmal (980), Washim (152), Buldhana (527), Nagpur (130), Wardha (50), Chandrapur (629), Bhandara (148), Gondia (189) and Gadchiroli (362).

The counting of votes will take place on January 18.