A high voter turnout of 79.37 per cent was registered in 83 of the total 249 panchayats in Una district during the second phase of elections to panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) on Thursday. While the elections in 86 panchayats were held on May 26, the remaining 81 panchayats would go to polls on May 30. Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri cast his vote at his native panchayat Gondpur Jaichand in Haroli subdivision of the district. He later urged the people of the state to cast their vote to build a strong democracy at the grassroots level.
Eighty-five-year-old Kewala Devi, a resident of Nangal Khurd village in Haroli who had come on a wheelchair to cast her vote, said that people should come out to vote to elect good people for the development of the panchayat. First-time voter Preet Jassal of Dhamandri village said after casting her vote that to elect good candidates was the greatest contribution of the voters towards nation building. He urged the youth to participate in the electoral process. At the Dhamandri polling booth, 95-year-old Shanti Devi also cast her vote, setting an example for others.
