Voting is underway across 25 districts of Rajasthan on Saturday (November 14) in the fourth and final phase of the state's Panchayati Raj elections, covering Zila Parishads (district councils) and 116 Panchayat Samitis (block-level councils), ANI reported from Jaipur.

Source: ANI

In this phase, 1,322 candidates are in the fray for 382 wards across 25 Zila Parishads, while 7,521 candidates are contesting for 2,142 wards across 116 Panchayat Samitis. A total of 10,594,285 voters — 5,488,275 men and 5,105,951 women — will decide the electoral outcomes, according to the figures carried by ANI. Polling began at 7 am and will continue until 6 pm.

In Jaipur district's Bassi and Tunga areas, voters began arriving at polling stations early in the morning. In Bassi, 128,504 voters will determine the fate of candidates across 25 Panchayat Samiti seats and six Zila Parishad seats, while in Tunga, 63,842 voters are voting for 15 Panchayat Samiti seats; ANI reported that women voters outnumber men in both areas and that 127 candidates' fortunes are at stake in Bassi.

The administration has set up a model polling station at Khokhawala in Bassi and a model booth at Anatpura in Tunga with special arrangements for voters. Bassi SDM Deepak Singh and Tunga ACM Shipra Jain are overseeing the electoral arrangements, while returning officers are inspecting polling stations, and the administration remains on high alert to ensure a peaceful polling process, ANI reported.

Saturday's polling completes the member-election rounds of a four-phase process announced by the State Election Commission in October, with Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti voting held on October 23, October 29 and November 4 in the earlier phases. Polling for Sarpanch and Ward Panch posts in the fourth phase is scheduled for November 16, and counting of votes for Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti seats is scheduled for November 20.

The panchayat polls follow Rajasthan's urban local body results declared earlier this week, in which, according to ANI, the BJP emerged as the largest party, winning 197 of the 301 chairperson and mayor posts for which results had been declared, followed by the Congress with 94, seven Independents, and one each for the AAP, CPI(M) and RLP. What happens next is the November 16 Sarpanch and Ward Panch polling and the November 20 counting, after which the newly elected members will choose Zila Pramukhs and Pradhans.