By IANS,
Srinagar : The 13th phase of the Jammu and Kashmir panchayat elections ended here Thursday, with 73.18 percent of eligible voters exercising their franchise to elect 240 sarpanches (village headmen) and 1,709 panches (village councillors) in nine blocks of the state.
Voting started at 8 a.m. and ended at 2 p.m. in north Kashmir’s Sopore and south Kashmir’s Tral blocks. Polls were also held in Leh, Chuchot and Kahru blocks of the Ladakh region.
In Jammu region, voting was held in Bhagwah, Gundana, Dansal and Mendhar blocks.
“The poll percentage remained 54.17 percent in Sopore, 50.87 percent in Tral, 52.97 percent in Leh, 63.55 percent in Chuchot, 66 percent in Kahru, 81.84 percent in Bhagwah, 82.47 percent in Gundana, 85.13 percent in Dansal and 80.50 percent in Mendhar with an overall percentage of 73.18 percent in all these blocks,” said an official here.
Votes were counted Thursday evening and results declared in presence of the contestants in all the nine blocks where elections were held.
As the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act does not provide for the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs), paper ballots and ballot boxes were used during these elections.