Gujarat gram panchayat election 2021 date announced: The polls to be held on Dec 19

Ahmedabad, Nov 22: The State Election Commission (SEC) on Monday announced the date of elections for a total of 10,879 gram panchayats across Gujarat. The state will go to polls on December 19.

State Election Commissioner Sanjay Prasad said that out of 10,879 gram panchayats, the five-year tenure of 10,117 gram panchayats is ending in December.

"In all, nearly 2.06 crore voters will elect 10,284 sarpanchs and 89,702 panchayat members of these 10,879 gram panchayats. There are some 14,000 gram panchayats and 18,500 across the state. The last date of filing nominations is December 4 and that of withdrawal is December 7," PTI quotes the officer as saying. The model code of conduct connected to these polls is now in place.

"Polling will be held on December 19 between 7 am and 6 pm in over 27,000 polling booths. Counting of votes will be held on December 21. Due to the very high number of wards, polling will be conducted using ballot boxes instead of EVMs. In all, we will be using over 54,000 ballot boxes for the elections," said Prasad.

He added that over 5,000 election officials, 1.5 lakh polling staff and over 58,000 policemen will be deployed.

The gram panchayats polls are not fought on party symbols, and candidates need to contest in their personal capacity, with voters electing one sarpanch and a specified number of panchayat members. PTI