Jaipur: Rajasthan’s four-phase Panchayati Raj election process will conclude Monday, with voting scheduled for 3,747 sarpanch and 33,885 ward panch posts across 25 districts. While 22,158 candidates are in the fray for the posts of sarpanch, 48 have been elected unopposed.More than 1.05 crore voters will be eligible to exercise their franchise in the final phase. Polling will be held at 3,747 panchayats from 7am to 6pm, with counting beginning immediately after the voting ends. The results of the sarpanch elections are expected by late Monday night, bringing the election of representatives in all 14,403 panchayats to a close.The nomination process for the final phase was completed Sunday, with candidates finalised after the withdrawal of nominations. Nominations were accepted till 11am, while candidates were given time to withdraw their papers until the afternoon. Following the completion of the process, the final list of contesting candidates was displayed at the respective polling booths.Sriganganagar will witness the largest electoral exercise in this phase, with elections being held for 307 sarpanch and 2,695 ward panch posts. The district also has the highest number of voters at 8.67 lakh and the maximum number of polling booths at 999.Voting for both sarpanch and ward panch posts will be conducted through ballot papers. The names of candidates will be handwritten on the ballot papers, unlike the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs).Polling parties have already reached the villages to conduct the elections. The teams deployed for the Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti member elections have been stationed in villages since Nov 13 and will now conduct the final phase of sarpanch and ward panch polling.
