Gujarat gram panchayat elections on December 27

Ahmedabad: Gujarat State Election Commission (SEC) today announced that elections to 10,318 gram panchayats in the state will be held on December 27, and the results will be announced on December 29.

The notification announcing commencement of election process will be issued on December 5, while the last date for filing nominations is December 10, Varesh Sinha, State Election Commissioner, said.

"Voters can exercise their franchise between 8 AM to 5 PM. Counting of votes as well as declaration of results will take place on December 29," he said.

As per the Panchayats Department, there are 14,017 gram panchayats in the state while the total number of villages in is 18,584. Tenure of 10,318 panchayats is ending in December.

Gram panchayat elections are not fought on party symbols. Each voter is required to cast two votes, one for Sarpanch's post and another for electing panchayat member from his/her ward.

According to Sinha, the total number of registered voters for these polls is over 1.89 crore, including 90.82 lakh women. Polling will be held at 25,454 booths in 91,002 wards.

Ballot boxes will be used instead of EVMs, he said, adding, "We do not have enough EVMs, so we will use more than 61,000 ballot boxes. Online voting facility is also not available, however, we will provide NOTA (none of the above) option for the first time in panchayat elections in Gujarat."

In another first, declarations submitted by candidates will be uploaded for public viewing on SEC's website.