Hyderabad: The panchayat elections in Telangana saw a sharp increase in unanimous wins during the second phase. The State Election Commission said 415 sarpanch seats and 8,304 ward seats went unopposed across the state. Kamareddy district had the highest number with 44 such seats. Nalgonda and Nizamabad districts followed with 38 unanimous sarpanch seats each. These numbers showed a clear rise in seats without contest.
The SEC issued a poll notice for 4,332 gram panchayats and 38,322 wards. But five gram panchayats did not get any nomination for the sarpanch post. Another 107 wards also received no nominations for member posts. When the withdrawal time closed, 7,584 sarpanch hopefuls pulled out. In the same way, 10,427 ward candidates withdrew their papers, which added to the growing count of unanimous wins.
Panchayat elections show a steady rise in seats without contest
The first and second phases together saw 810 unanimous sarpanch seats. The total number of unopposed ward seats reached 17,635. The SEC said these figures show how common unanimous wins have become in the current poll round. Voting for the remaining seats will begin soon, and staff are preparing for the next stage.