Vote-count still around 50%; parties start claiming wins

LUCKNOW: The counting of votes for the three-tier panchayat polls in Uttar Pradesh remained inconclusive on Monday evening, even as political parties started claiming victories of candidates they supported, largely for the posts of zila panchayat ward members.

According to a press statement issued by the state election commission here, only as many as 2,32,612 village ward members, 38,317 village pradhans, 55,926 kshetra panchayat ward members and 181 zila panchayat ward members had been declared elected till Monday evening. “As per the information available from districts, the counting is in progress at all the 826 centres across the state,” a commission spokesman said.

The manual counting of votes began on May 2 and people familiar with the issue said that final results were not expected before Tuesday afternoon since 40-50% of votes were still to be counted.

The counting of votes is being held for 58,176 posts of village pradhans, 7,32,485 village ward members, 75,852 kshetra panchayat ward members and 3,051 zila panchayat ward members.

Large gatherings of candidates, their supporters and agents continued to be seen at most counting centres on the second consecutive day, throwing Covid-19 protocols to the winds. The counting will determine the fate of over 12 lakh candidates who were in the fray with nearly 12 crore rural voters having exercised their franchise in the four-phase voting exercise.