Over 70 pc results declared in Gram Panchayat polls, counting on

Ahmedabad, Dec 12 (UNI) Results of over 70 per cent of the 7,283 Gram Panchayats in Gujarat, that went to polls on Sunday, had been declared till tonight, with the BJP and Congress claiming that the candidates backed by them had won the polls.

The counting, being undertaken at various taluka headquarters, is likely to continue all through the night, state Election official V H Shah said.

Counting of votes is also being undertaken for elections to Sarpanch post, for which direct elections were held.

The polling was held for 43,269 gram panchayat seats in the 7,283 out of the 10,310 gram panchayats, for which elections were declared.

In the other seats, candidates had been elected mostly uncontested. The elections are non-party based.

Meanwhile, a report from Surat indicated that out of the total 578 Gram Panchayats in the district, the results for only 118 Gram Panchayats had been announced, Surat District Election Office said.

A report from Anand said a jawan, who was on duty in Tarapur, where counting of votes was on for the Gram Panchayat elections, died following a heart attack.

The jawan, Karsan Jadeja, a resident of Kutch, was part of a patrolling party, when he complained of chest pain and collapsed.

He died before admission to a hospital, police said.

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