Panchayat polls: NOTA gets highest votes in Jodhpur village; election panel opinion sought

In the election for the gram panchayat of Jodhpur village, it was the NOTA (None Of The Above) option which was ‘elected’ sarpanch of the village. The election for 228 sarpanches along with other members of the village panchayat was held on Tuesday under tight security cover. It was only Jodhpur village from where NOTA got the maximum number of votes than the candidates fielded by political parties.

Meanwhile, election of the Muse village panchayat has been cancelled as unidentified miscreants snatched the ballot papers from the presiding officer. A case in this regard has been registered by the Chabal police, said Kamalmeet Singh, DSP (City), Tarn Taran.

In the election for the Sarpanch of Jodhpur village, Balwinder Kaur, backed by the ruling AAP, was facing a tough fight against her rival Rani. Balwinder Kaur got 271 votes and her rival Rani polled 247 votes. NOTA got 368 votes which surprised the leaders of different political parties. The Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development) said a letter is being sent to the State Election Commission to seek its guidance in this regard. None of the candidates have been given the certificate of winning the election for the post of Sarpanch as of yet, said official sources. Besides the sarpanch, the panchayat in Jodhpur village has nine members (panches). Three of the nine were elected unopposed and the remaining six were elected after voting on Tuesday.

In another report, the polling percentage has risen to 64.40 per cent from the earlier 52 per cent. There was no polling in Patti block as all the sarpanches of 72 villages were elected unopposed. It was the block where the election of not even a single panchayat member took place. Hence, the polling was zero per cent. In Naushehra Pannuan block, there was 73.37% polling, in Bhikhiwind 67.77%, Valtoha 76.69%, Gandiwind 66.29%, Tarn Taran 66.19%, Khadoor Sahib 64.79% with Chohla Sahib registering 62.24% polling.