DW BUREAU / Chandigarh Haryana State Election Commissioner said that 133 Sarpanchs and 17,158 Panchs have been unanimously elected in nine districts in the first phase of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) elections. Sh. Dhanpat Singh shared this while addressing a press conference regarding the third phase of PRIs polls held here today. The State Election Commissioner said that in the list of unanimously elected Panchs 8,708 are men and 8,450 are women. Similarly, 39,619 nominations were filed for 25,968 posts of Panch and now 16,832 candidates are in the fray, of which 9,593 are males and 7,239 are females. Sh. Dhanpat Singh said that 133 sarpanches were unanimously elected in the first phase, out of which 74 are male and 59 are female. In the first phase, out of 2,607 panchayats, 17,597 candidates filed nominations for the post of sarpanch and now 11,391 candidates are in the fray. These include 6,044 males and 5,347 females. He further informed that 56 candidates have been unanimously elected for the Panchayat Samiti, which includes 25 men and 31 women. A total of 6,136 candidates, including 3,540 males and 2,596 females, filed nominations for 1,278 posts of Panchayat Samiti members. Now 4,894 candidates are in the fray, including 2,821 males and 2,073 females. He informed that 1,590 candidates filed nominations for 175 members of Zilla Parishad and now 1,254 candidates are in the fray. While 717 males and 537 females are contesting for Zilla Parishad. Sh. Dhanpat Singh further said that out of the nominations received so far for Zila Parishad, 320 candidates have withdrawn their names and 16 nominations were cancelled. Similarly, 65 nominations filed for the post of Panchayat Samiti were cancelled and 1,094 have been withdrawn. He said that out of a total of 2,607 Sarpanch posts, 192 nominations were cancelled and 5,880 candidates have withdrawn their nominations. Nominations of 765 candidates were cancelled for the post of Panch and 4,869 candidates have withdrawn their names. Sh. Dhanpat Singh shared that in the first phase of the nine districts 34,371 candidates are in the fray for the post of Panch, Sarpanch and Member, Panchayat Samiti and Member, Zilla Parishad, including 19,175 are males and 15,196 females. Secretary, State Election Commission, Dr Inderjeet, Additional Director, Information, Public Relations and Languages Department, Smt. Varsha Khangwal, Joint Director, Sh. Aman Kumar and other senior officers were present on the occasion. (editor@dailyworld.in)