Chandigarh: Polling for the elections to Punjab’s zila parishads and panchayat samitis commenced on Sunday morning, with voting starting at 8 am under extensive security measures, election officials confirmed.
The elections are being conducted across the state to choose representatives for 347 constituencies of 22 zila parishads and 2,838 constituencies of 153 panchayat samitis. More than 9,000 candidates are contesting, reflecting keen political interest at the grassroots level.
According to officials, nearly 1.36 crore voters are registered to participate in the polls. Electors can cast their votes until 4 pm, after which the polling process will conclude. The counting of votes has been scheduled for December 17.
Special arrangements have been made in Ludhiana district, where District Election Officer Himanshu Jain stated that 12,45,275 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise. To ensure a smooth and fair voting process, around 10,000 government employees have been deployed on election duty.
Ludhiana has 1,639 polling stations, of which 316 have been identified as sensitive and 92 as hyper-sensitive. Security personnel have been stationed at these locations to maintain law and order and to facilitate peaceful polling throughout the day.
Election authorities expressed confidence that the voting process would be conducted in a transparent and orderly manner across the state.
