A total of 8,687 candidates are all set to be elected unopposed in the forthcoming gram panchayat elections.
State Election Commissioner P.N. Srinivasachari told presspersons here on Wednesday that 901 seats will remain vacant as no nominations had been filed.
Admitting that residents of several districts, including Kolar, Chamarajanagar, Chikkamagaluru, and North Karnataka, had boycotted the polls, he said it was either because of lack of basic amenities, particularly drinking water, or a demand to upgrade the existing gram panchayats into town panchayats.
“The seats that have been boycotted will go uncontested. We will subsequently conduct polls in these places too,” he said.
The commission has made elaborate arrangements for the smooth conduct of the two-phased polls on May 29 and June 2. “We will begin mustering for the first phase on Thursday and the ballot boxes and other election paraphernalia will be handed over to the designated poll officers on the same day. Polling will be held between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. on May 29,” Mr. Srinivasachari said.
On the reported auctioning of seats in some villages, he said this had been reported only in a few gram panchayats. “We had instructed the Deputy Commissioners to conduct a probe. However, when the officers went to those areas, none came forward to give a complaint. We will have to consider these seats as elected unopposed,” he said.