A high 83.62 per cent voting was recorded in 87 panchayats of Solan district in the second phase of the elections to panchayati raj institutions on Thursday. Women again outnumbered men voters in polling. While 84.56 per cent women cast their vote, 82.72 per cent men exercised their right to franchise. Women’s participation was the highest in the three development blocks of Nalagarh, Patta and Kunihar. In Nalagarh, 88.43 per cent women turnout was recorded while 84.07 per cent men cast their vote. In Patta, 88.02 per cent women cast their vote while 86.59 per cent men exercised their right to franchise. In Kunihar, women polled 80.36 per cent votes while 78.11 per cent men cast their vote.
The highest polling of 87.29 per cent was registered in nine panchayats of Patta block, followed by 86.19 per cent in 26 panchayats of Nalagarh block. The voters of 10 panchayats in Kandaghat were equally passionate about casting their vote as 82.89 per cent polling was recorded while 81.3 per cent votes were polled in 13 panchayats of Solan.
Around 83.40 per cent polling was registered in nine panchayats of Dharampur block while the lowest voting percentage of 79.22 was recorded in 19 panchayats of Kunihar block.
Elderly people exhibited passion to cast their vote for electing pradhan, up-pradhan and members of the block development committee and the Zila Parishad. Accompanied by their family members, several elderly people turned up in early hours to cast their vote. Prem Dutt (100) was accompanied by a relative at Rano gram panchayat in Solan development block to cast his vote while Laik Ram (95) voted at Mashivar gram panchayat in Solan. Shakt Ram Bhardwaj (98) cast his vote at Krishangarh in Patta development block.
Accompanied by his family members, 93-year-old Krishan Dutt cast his vote at Jabal Jamrot gram panchayat in Solan development block. Krishan Devi (88), a resident of Jadhana gram panchayat, exhibited appreciable enthusiasm as she exhibited her inked finger after casting her vote.
