Erstwhile Adilabad records 84.66 percent polling in 3rd phase

The third and final phase of gram panchayat elections across Adilabad, Mancherial, Nirmal and Kumram Bheem Asifabad districts concluded peacefully with an impressive overall turnout of 84.66 per cent. A total of 575 candidates contested for sarpanch posts and over 8,000 for ward member positions.

Adilabad: The third and final phase of elections to 446 gram panchayats went off peacefully in erstwhile Adilabad district, which registered a voting percentage of 84.66 on Wednesday.

Officials said that Adilabad district, where polling was held in 120 gram panchayats across six mandals, Bazarhathnoor, Boath, Gudihathnoor, Neradigonda, Sonala and Talamadugu, voter turnout stood at 82.56 percent.

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In Mancherial district, where 98 villages across five mandals, Bheemaram, Chennur, Jaipur, Kotapalli and Mandamarri, went to polls, the polling was 87.78 percent.

Similarly, Nirmal district, where polling was underway in 124 villages across mandals including Basar, Thanur, Kubheer, Mudhole and Bhainsa, registered a turnout of 84.99 per cent. Kumram Bheem Asifabad district, where 104 villages across four mandals, Rebbena, Asifabad, Kagaznagar and Tiryani, went to polls in this phase, recorded a polling percentage of 83.32.

Both Kumram Bheem Asifabad and Adilabad districts initially saw a sluggish pace of polling, with the turnout of voters by 18.95 percent up to 9 am due to biting cold weather conditions prevailing. The voting process gradually gained momentum by noon. While Kumram Bheem Asifabad district recorded 55.99 percent of polling at 11 am, Adilabad district witnessed turnout of 54.45 percent.

A total of 575 candidates contested for the post of sarpanch across the four districts, while 8,044 candidates were in the fray for ward member posts from 3,623 wards in the 446 villages going to polls in this phase.

Over 1,000 villages witnessed polling during the first and second phases of elections held in Adilabad, Mancherial, Nirmal and Kumram Bheem Asifabad districts on December 11 and 14.