Rajasthan panchayat polls: Over 38% turnout recorded till noon in fourth and final phase

Jaipur: Over 38 percent voter turnout was recorded till noon in the fourth and last phase of panchayat elections in Rajasthan on Saturday, an official said. State Election Commission secretary Shyam Rajpurohit said 38.91 per cent voters exercised their franchise till 12 pm. The voting began at 7.30 am and is going on peacefully. There are 30.56 lakh voters, including 15.97 lakh males and 14.59 lakh females, in 897 gram panchayats where voting is taking place. He said the elections are being held according to the guidelines related to COVID-19. A total of 4,629 candidates are in the fray for the post of sarpanch and 11,373 for the post of panch, he said, adding that 26 sarpanch and 3,714 panch have already been elected unopposed. EVMs are being used for the polling to elect sarpanch while ballot papers are being used to elect panch. The first phase voting took place on 28 September, while the second phase was held on 3 October. The third phase polling took place on 6 October.