First phase of panchayat polls ends peacefully in erstwhile Karimnagar

First phase of gram panchayat elections in erstwhile Karimnagar passed off peacefully on Thursday. Despite a slow start due to severe cold, polling picked up later, with turnout ranging from 77% to 82% across Karimnagar, Jagtial, Peddapalli and Rajanna-Sircilla districts

Karimnagar: The first phase of gram panchayat elections for sarpanch and ward member posts passed off peacefully across erstwhile Karimnagar district on Thursday.

Polling began at 7 am, but severe cold weather kept early turnout low as voters stayed indoors in the first two hours. Voting picked up steadily as the day progressed.

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Karimnagar district recorded 81.42 per cent polling, with 1,24,088 voters casting their ballots out of 1,52,408 across the mandals of Karimnagar rural, Ramadugu, Choppadandi, Kothapalli and Gangadhara.

Jagtial district registered 77.68 per cent polling, where 1,69,846 voters out of 2,18,194 exercised their franchise in Bheemaram, Ibrahimpatnam, Kathalapur, Korutla, Mallapur, Medipally and Metpally mandals.

Peddapalli district recorded 82.27 per cent polling, with 1,18,346 voters exercising their franchise in Kamanpur, Manthani, Mutharam-Manthani, Ramagiri and Srirampur mandals.

In Rajanna-Sircilla district, 1,11,148 voters were on the rolls and 88,442 cast their votes in the mandals of Chandurthi, Konaraopet, Rudrangi, Vemulawada urban and Vemulawada rural, resulting in a turnout of 79.57 per cent.

Counting of votes was still under progress.