States » NorthPosted at: Oct 28 2026 10:03PM

Jaipur, Oct 28 (UNI) At least 64.32 per cent of more that 10 million voters exercised their franchise on Wednesday in the second spell of polling in the Panchayat Polls 2026 for electing members to the 22 Zila Parishads and 124 Panchayat Samitis under these parishads.
The polling began at 07:00 am today at 11,799 polling booths spread over rural areas of the 22 districts, which gained momentum by noon and afternoon.
Polling progressed by and large in a smooth and peaceful manner. About 13.68 per cent polling was reported in the first three hours; the figure improved to 34.92 per cent by 1 pm and 49.27 percent at 3:00pm to close at a modest 64.32 percent at 6 pm, a state election commission spokesperson said here.
The Batadoo Panchayat Samiti in Barmer district recorded the highest polling of 78.30 per cent while the Desuri Panchayat Samiti in Pali district reported the least 49.11 per cent polling.
With this, the fate of 8,404 contestants have been locked in the EVMs.
While 1,086 contestants were in the fray for 352 posts of 22 Zila Parishads, 7,318 were contesting for 2,197 post of members in 124 Panchayat Samitis.
Amid the smooth and peaceful voting, some stray incidents of polls boycott were reported in a few pockets in different districts, including Patan village in Kishangarh block of Ajmer district, Hansas village under Buhana sub division of Jhunjhunu district, and a couple of booths in Kotputli region.
The polling personnel and district authorities tried their best to pursuade until afternoon the voters to cast their votes.
The first phase polling for electing members to the Panchayat Samitis and Zila Parishads in the above 104 panchayat samitis in the 16 districts was held on Thursday.
The polling for the third and fourth spells for election of members of the Zila Parishads and Panchayat Samitis would be conducted on November 3, and 16, 2026.
As many as 41 Zila Parishads, 457 Panchayat Samitis and 14,403 gram panchayats are going to the polls during the more than one and a half months long electoral process to elect 1,55,138 public representatives to the rural local bodies.
Over 4.03 crore voters are eligible to excercise the franchise in these elections.
UNI SKS RN