14 per cent turnout in Himachal urban local body polls till 9 am

Shimla, May 17 (PTI) Voting for urban local body elections was underway in Himachal Pradesh on Sunday, with 14 per cent turnout recorded in the first two hours, according to officials.
    Polling for 51 urban local bodies, including four municipal corporations of Dharamshala, Solan, Mandi and Palampur, began at 7 am.
    An overall voter turnout of 14 per cent was recorded till 9 am. A voter turnout of 15.42 per cent was recorded in Mandi in the first two hours, 17.10 per cent in Jogindernagar and 14.58 per cent in Rampur, the officials said.
    Polling for 64 wards in the four municipal corporations, 229 wards in 25 municipal councils and 156 wards in 22 nagar panchayats is being held simultaneously.
    A total of 1,147 candidates are in the fray for 449 posts and 3,60,859 voters -- including 1,80,963 men, 1,79,882 women and 14 others -- are eligible to vote. Among the eligible voters are 1,808 first-time voters, comprising 961 men and 847 women.
    The counting of votes for municipal council and nagar panchayat elections will begin soon after the polling ends, while those for the municipal corporation elections will be counted on May 31.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)