Ranchi: There are a total of 888 candidates in fray for the first phase of panchayat elections to be held in the Ranchi district for which the administration is fully geared up to conduct free and fair polls..
In a joint press conference Deputy Commissioner Ranchi, Chhavi Ranjan and Senior Superintendent of Police Surendra Jha jointly addressed a press conference regarding the preparations for the first phase of voting for the three-tier Panchayat elections in the district.
During the press conference, District Election Officer cum Deputy Commissioner Ranchi, Chhavi Ranjan informed that a total of 3,631 polling stations have been set up in the district for the three-tier Panchayat elections. There are 648 polling stations in the first phase, 1013 in the second phase, 932 in the third phase and 1038 in the fourth phase. The total number of polling booths in the first phase is 432. While the number of shadow polling stations is 27.
He said that a total of 13,91,645 voters will exercise their franchise in all the four phases of the three-tier Panchayat elections. A total of 2,43,235 voters will cast their votes in the first phase, 3,94,214 in the second phase, 3,55,776 in the third phase and 3,98,420 in the fourth phase. In the first phase, 2592 polling personnel and 5333 security personnel will be deployed.
The DC informed that in the first phase of the panchayat a total of 888 candidates are in the fray. A total of 1398 candidates had filed nominations for the first phase. In which the nomination of 54 candidates was rejected while 22 candidates withdrew their names he said adding that a total of 433 candidates have been elected unopposed in the first phase.
In the first phase of polling, 251 candidates are in the fray for the post of Mukhiya, 423 for ward members, 171 for panchayat Samiti members and 43 for zilla parishad members.
During the press conference, the District Election Officer cum Deputy Commissioner also informed about the colors of the ballot paper. It was informed by the Deputy Commissioner that separate ballot papers would be used for ward member while pink for Mukhiya, green for Panchayat Samiti members and yellow for Zilla Parishad members.
Moreover, there will be a dry day for 4 days in all the 18 blocks of the Ranchi district for the first phase of the Panchayat elections. In this regard, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Chhavi Ranjan said that there will be a dry day from 03:00 PM on 12th May 2022 to 07:00 AM on 15th May 2022 regarding the elections. During this time, there will be no sale of liquor in the areas where the election code of conduct is in force.
In the press conference, Senior Superintendent of Police Surendra Jha said that licensed weapons are also being deposited during the elections. He said that 175 licensed weapons have been deposited so far. The SSP said that 1000 people have been given notices on various matters, special checking drives are being conducted at 11 places and QRTs and special forces are also being deployed during polling in Naxal affected areas. He said that a four-tier security system would be implemented in the Naxal-affected areas.