Rajasthan panchayat elections to begin on October 23 in four phases

Rajasthan panchayat elections details

Rajasthan will go to the polls to elect its rural local bodies in four phases between 23 October and 17 November, the State Election Commission announced on Saturday. The election schedule sets off a massive democratic exercise across the state, involving more than 40 million registered voters.

State Election Commissioner Rajeshwar Singh announced the dates on 3 October, outlining an election process that has expanded significantly since the last round of voting. Following a sweeping redrawing and reorganisation of local boundaries, the state now has 41 Zila Parishads, up from 33, and 457 Panchayat Samitis, up from 352. Elections will also be held for 14,403 Gram Panchayats.

The voting schedule and phases

To manage the scale of the voting, the election commission has split the polling into distinct phases for different positions.

For Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti members, voters will head to the polls on four separate days: 23 October, 29 October, 4 November, and 14 November. Polling stations will be open from 7 am to 6 pm. The votes for these regional council seats will be collected and counted at the respective district headquarters on 20 November.

Elections for village-level positions — panches and sarpanches — are scheduled for different dates to avoid overlapping bottlenecks. These will take place on 25 October, 31 October, 6 November, and 16 November. Unlike the regional council votes, counting for panches and sarpanches will begin immediately at local Gram Panchayat headquarters as soon as polling closes. Deputy sarpanches will be elected the day after each respective phase: on 26 October, 1 November, 7 November, and 17 November.

Expanding electorate and final stages

The redrawn boundaries are matched by a growing electorate. More than 4.03 crore voters are eligible to participate, marking a 6.22 per cent increase from the 2020-21 local elections. The election commission plans to set up 45,384 polling stations to accommodate them. Out of the 4,03,07,308 registered voters, 2,08,87,351 are men, 1,94,19,789 are women, and 168 are registered as third-gender.

The final tier of leadership will be decided in late November through indirect elections. The powerful posts of Zila Pramukh and Up-Zila Pramukh will be decided on 25 and 26 November respectively. Following this, the Panchayat Samiti Pradhans and Up-Pradhans will be elected on 27 and 28 November to conclude the entire process.