Madhya Pradesh Panchayat elections: 3-phase polling from June 25

Madhya Pradesh State Election Commission (MP-SEC) on Friday announced a three-phase poll schedule from June 25 to July 8 to the three-tire panchayats, which will be conducted through ballot papers.

With the declaration of poll dates, the model code of conduct has come into force with immediate effect and will stay in force till July 15.

The first phase of voting for three-tire panchayats (gram, janpad and zila panchayats) will be held on June 25, the second on July 1 and voting for the third and final phase will be held on July 8.

The results will be announced on July 14 and 15, state election commissioner Basant Pratap Singh said.

The SEC also made it clear that voting in panchayat elections will be conducted through ballot papers and not EVM (Electronic Voting Machines).

The electorate in three-tire panchayats will be allowed to exercise their votes between 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. "Panchayat elections will be conducted using ballot papers and the voting will be scheduled between 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.," Singh told the media.

Nominations process will start from May 30 and the last date for withdrawal of nominations will be June 10 till 3 pm. The SEC said that voter ID cards will be necessary for voting. The results will be announced at the Block Headquarters.

As per the SEC, the three-phase elections will be held for 875 posts of 52 district panchayats (zila), 6771 posts of 313 Janpad panchayats, 22921 sarpanch and 3,63,726 gram panchayat members posts. Over 3.93 crore voters, including over 2.03 crore male and 1.90 crore women voters will exercise franchise at 71,645 polling booths.

The MP-SEC Commissioner also said that the dates for the urban local bodies polls will be announced later. These polls will be held through EVMs, he said.