The third and final phase of voting for Panchayati Raj institutions in Himachal Pradesh witnessed 80.59% voting on Saturday despite widespread rainfall in the state.
Long queues of voters of all age groups were seen early in the morning at polling stations across the state.
Experienced voters participated with enthusiasm, including Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu’s 88-year-old mother Sansar Dei, who cast her vote and 105-year-old Basanti Devi, who exercised her franchise in Kas ward of Kas panchayat in Jogindernagar assembly constituency.
In a wonderful display of democratic spirit, villagers in Naghiyar Panchayat of Jhanduta in Bilaspur carried a person unable to walk in a makeshift palanquin to the polling booth.
Among the districts, Sirmaur recorded the highest turnout at 85.18%, Kullu recorded the highest turnout at 84.66%, and Lahaul Spiti recorded the lowest turnout at 71.05%.
More than 80% voting was recorded in six districts – Sirmaur (85.18%), Solan (83.85%), Shimla (82.74%), Mandi 81.63%, Kullu (84.66%) and Chamba (80.68%).
Police said no untoward incident was reported.
A total of 15,40,324 voters – including 7,76,802 men, 7,63,517 women and five third gender voters – are eligible to exercise their franchise in 1,189 panchayats in the final phase.
To streamline the voting process, the administration has deployed colour-coded ballot papers: white for ward members, yellow for sub-pradhans, green for pradhans, pink for panchayat samiti members and blue for zilla parishad members.
This concludes a massive democratic exercise in the hill state to elect 31,182 public representatives including 3,754 Pradhans, 3,754 Up-Pradhans, 21,654 ward members, 1,769 Panchayat Samiti members and 251 Zilla Parishad members.
Out of the total candidates, 10,854 officials have already been elected unopposed.
Around 50.89 lakh eligible voters are involved in the three-phase elections.
Voting was 78.9% in 1,293 panchayats in the first phase, while 80% voting was recorded in 1,276 panchayats in the second phase on May 28.
Voting is scheduled to end at 3 pm today, after which counting of votes for panchayats will begin immediately, the results of which are expected by this evening.
Meanwhile, counting of votes for Zilla Parishad, Panchayat Samitis and four municipal corporations of Solan, Mandi, Palampur and Dharamshala will take place on Sunday.
Municipal corporation votes will be counted at their respective headquarters, while Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti votes will be counted at their respective block headquarters.
Women outnumber men
In keeping with the trend seen in the first two phases, in the third phase too female voters outnumbered male voters by 83.55%, whose voting percentage was 77.69%, in 11 districts except Shimla (males 83.35% females 82.56%) where the voting percentage of males was higher than that of females.
A large number of elderly people came out
There is tremendous enthusiasm about voting among the people of Himachal Pradesh. In Naghiyar Panchayat of Jhandutta (Bilaspur), villagers carried a person unable to walk in a palanquin to the polling booth.
Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu’s 88-year-old mother Sansar Dei cast her vote.
105-year-old Basanti Devi cast her vote in Kas ward of Kas Panchayat under Jogindernagar assembly constituency. 105-year-old Draupadi Devi, resident of Gunswai village, cast her vote at Atal Adarsh Vidyalaya of Dabrot Gram Panchayat (Dharampur Development Block).
Unique health care initiative at Randhara Model Polling Station
During the Panchayat elections, a special health check-up camp was organized for the convenience of the voters at Government Senior Secondary School, Randhara, a designated Model Polling Center under Mandi Sadar Development Block. Under this initiative, various health related services were provided to the people who came to vote.
Assistant Election Officer and SDM (Sadar) Rupinder Kaur said that a total of 162 persons got tested for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the health camp organized at the model polling station. Additionally, X-rays were performed on 202 people, with abnormal results in 12 cases.
He said the objective behind providing health services at the polling station was to increase public awareness about voting as well as health.
The voting process in Mangalore Panchayat, located under Banjar development block of Kullu district, was briefly disrupted due to a mistake in the name of a candidate along with the election symbol for the BDC (Block Development Council) member seat. On the ballot papers, the names of the BDC candidates were mistakenly listed next to each other’s respective election symbols. The voting process was stopped when this irregularity came to light. After investigation, two specific ballot papers on which candidates’ names were interchanged were cancelled. After this, the voting process was resumed.
Unique blend of ‘Dev’ culture and democracy
During voting, a unique blend of Dev culture and democracy was seen at Kandha polling station of Ward No. 1 of Talada Gram Panchayat of Kullu district. At the polling station, the polling party conducted the voting sitting on the ground. The decision to conduct voting from the floor of the room was taken by the voting team in honor of the deity Garga Rishi. In some parts of Kandha village, sitting on a chair or sleeping on a bed is prohibited as per local religious customs. The polling booth was built without any chair or table.
MC results will go in favor of Congress: Kumar
State Congress president Vinay Kumar expressed confidence that the election results of the state’s four municipal corporations – which are scheduled to be declared on May 31 – will be in favor of the Congress party. Citing the recent election results of various municipal bodies and Panchayati Raj institutions, he expressed his confidence that the results of Mandi, Dharamshala, Palampur and Solan municipal corporations will also go in favor of the Congress.
Kumar said the Congress party is making strong progress across the state.
He alleged that the party is not at all concerned about the welfare of the state.
BJP is making false claims of victory: Chauhan
Principal Advisor to the Chief Minister (Media) Naresh Chauhan alleged that the BJP was making exaggerated and misleading claims about its performance in the local body and panchayat elections, while the response to the Congress from across the state indicated that a large number of Congress-backed candidates had emerged victorious. He alleged that BJP is trying to create the impression of victory through media, which is far away from the ground reality.
He said that Congress supported candidates will also be victorious in Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad elections.
State government trying to hijack elections: Bindal
On the last day of voting for the panchayat elections, BJP state president Rajeev Bindal launched a scathing attack on the Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress government in Himachal Pradesh and accused the government of “trying to hijack” the urban local body and panchayati raj elections in Himachal Pradesh.
“Fearing defeat, the Congress government is now allegedly misusing the administrative machinery, political influence and money power in an attempt to gain control over Municipal Councils, Block Development Committees (BDCs) and District Councils through the backdoor,” he alleged.
Bindal alleged that through a notification issued on May 27, 2026, the government amended the municipal corporation election rules and gave discretionary powers to deputy commissioners to schedule meetings for the election of chairpersons and vice-chairpersons. “Earlier, such elections were conducted within a fixed time frame and under a well-defined process. This new arrangement provides opportunities for political pressure and influence on the elected representatives,” he alleged.
Voting is the biggest strength of democracy: Nadda
Former BJP national president and Union minister Jagat Prakash Nadda, after casting his vote in the Panchayati Raj elections, said, “Panchayati Raj institutions form the foundation of India’s democratic structure and play a vital role in rural development and local governance. Therefore, active participation in these elections is necessary to ensure effective and representative leadership at the grassroots level.”
People gave mandate against Congress government: Thakur
Former Chief Minister and leader of the opposition, Jai Ram Thakur launched a scathing attack on the Congress government, saying, “By giving an unprecedented victory to candidates belonging to the BJP ideology – by securing almost 75 per cent of the seats – they have sent a clear message that the people of Himachal are completely fed up with the policies, hollow guarantees and administrative approach that is stunting development of the present Congress government.”
The highest voting percentage among women was recorded in district Sirmaur, which was around 86%. Within Sirmaur, Bhatgarh gram panchayat located in Dadahu development block recorded the highest overall turnout – around 95%.
In all three phases of elections for 3,758 gram panchayats, the overall turnout in the state was recorded at 81%. In comparison, during the three phases of general elections to Panchayati Raj institutions held in 2021 – covering 3,473 gram panchayats – around 78% voters in the state had exercised their franchise.
re-polling took place
Re-polling was conducted in Ward No. 1 (Brandley-1) of Gram Panchayat Naren, located in Rampur development block, as ‘NOTA’ tickets were used along with the standard ‘Swastika’ tickets during the polling held on May 26, 2026. At the conclusion of the voting process, voter turnout in the said ward stood at around 88%.
The elections in ward number 2 of Gram Panchayat Samwal located in Teesa development block of Chamba were earlier postponed. Voting was successfully completed in this ward today, May 30, with approximately 91% voting.
