The counting of votes polled in the recently concluded Gram Panchayat elections began on Wednesday amid tight security at designated places across Karnataka.
According to the latest trends, BJP dominating in early trends as it continues to extend its lead. The Congress and JD(S) have amassed leads but much lower than the BJP.
The BJP has extended its lead in 3,422 seats while the Congress is ahead in 1,580 seats. The JDS number has gone up to 592 seats.
According to the Karnataka State Election Commission officials, counting is taking place at all Taluka headquarters in the state by adhering to strict COVID-19 protocol of mandatory wearing of face mask, social distancing, and hand hygiene.
The counting process began at 226 centres at 8 am and the results are expected to be out by afternoon. Over 1,100 security personnel have been deployed at the counting centres, State Election Commissioner B Basavaraju said.
The elections to 5,728 village panchayats had taken place across 226 Talukas of the state for 82,616 seats. They were conducted in two phases on December 22 and 27 where 78.58 per cent voting was registered.
As many as 2,22,814 candidates contested the election whereas 8,074 candidates were elected unopposed. Though these polls don't take place on party symbols, all political parties have put in efforts to ensure that the candidate supported by them wins, so as to have their hold on grassroot level politics, which may prove advantageous for them in taluka or zilla panchayat and even assembly polls whenever it happens.
