Raj Panchayat polls: Over 61 per cent turnout in 2nd phase

Over 61 per cent of 1.15 crore voters today exercised their franchise in the second phase of panchayat elections which ended incident free at 1700 hrs, an official said.
A total of 61.04 per cent of 1.15 crore electors exercised their franchise to elect 343 ward members of Zila Parishad and 2,157 members of Panchayat Samiti, Commissioner of the Rajasthan State Election Commission (RSEC) Ramlubhaya told PTI here.
The highest percentage of polling was registered in Banshwara district where the turnout was 76 per cent. And the lowest polling percentage, 45 per cent, was recorded in Sawai Madhopur district, officials said.

In the second phase of polls, four candidates were elected unopposed on Zila Parishad seats, while 35 candidates got elected unopposed on Panchayat Samiti seats after the scrutiny of papers last week.
Voting began at 8 AM at 13,088 polling booths amid tight security and intermittent rains.
"Poll process was incident-free and held in a free and fair manner," Special Additional Director-General of Police (Law and Order) Navdeep Singh told PTI.
The last and third phase of panchayat elections will be held on February 1. The counting of votes will be held on February 5.