Ranchi, Feb 28: Counting of votes for elections to 19 Nagar Panchayats in Jharkhand was underway on Friday, with early trends indicating that BJP-backed candidates are leading in a majority of wards, officials said.
The civic polls were held on February 23, and results are being declared for Nagar Panchayats including Banshidhar Nagar and Manjhiaon in Garhwa, Hussainabad, Hariharganj and Chhatarpur in Palamu, Latehar, Koderma and Domchanch in Koderma, Barki Saraiya and Dhanwar in Giridih, Mahagama, Rajmahal and Barharwa in Sahibganj, Basukinath in Dumka, Jamtara, Bundu in Ranchi district, Khunti, Saraikela, and Chakulia in East Singhbhum.
Several ward results have already been declared in Mahagama, Dumka, Barharwa and Khunti Nagar Panchayats. In Mahagama, winners include Rocky Jaiswal, Lalita Devi, Nilesh Kumar, Hemant Sah, Dilip Ravidas, Sikandar Paswan, Bhim Brahma, Munni Devi, Sweety Kumari, Asha Devi and Premlal Murmu.
In Dumka Nagar Panchayat, candidates such as Keshav Kumar Gupta, Rohit Raut, Nikesh Kumar Mandal, Manoj Rao, Baby Devi, Paanchu Das, Pinki Devi, Shweta Mishra, Bahamuni Tudu, Manisha Panda, Anil Mandal and Sushil Kumar Baski emerged victorious in various wards.
Barharwa also declared several ward winners, including Nirmala Kumari, Jitendra Kumar, Amit Kumar Bharti, Rajkumar Bhagat, Dolly Kumari, Sriti Das, Rasheed Shaikh and Keya Singh.
In **Khunti Nagar Panchayat, ward winners include Dinesh Kumar Mahto, Sumitra Kumari, Hemanti Kumari and Anita Tuti, while counting for the president’s post was still underway. BJP-backed candidate Rani Tuti was reported to be leading in the race for the chairperson’s post.
Meanwhile, in Saraikela Nagar Panchayat, Manoj Kumar Choudhary was leading after the first round of counting with 818 votes, ahead of Sumit Kumar Choudhary and Sanad Kumar Acharya.
According to the Jharkhand State Election Commission, about 62 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the civic polls. Saraikela Nagar Panchayat registered the highest turnout at 74.86 per cent, while Ranchi Municipal Corporation recorded the lowest turnout at 43.35 per cent, followed by Dhanbad Municipal Corporation at 46.98 per cent.
Nearly 562 candidates, including 235 women, contested for mayor and chairperson posts, while 5,562 candidates, including 2,727 women, contested for ward councillor posts.
Unlike general elections, voting in the civic polls was conducted using ballot papers instead of electronic voting machines, and the elections were held on a non-party basis without official party symbols. The ballot papers also did not include the NOTA option, officials said.
