Raipur, Dec 24 (PTI) The Chhattisgarh State Election Commission on Friday announced that elections to eight village panchayats in two districts of the state will be held on January 20.

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Besides, the bypoll to elect 2,075 representatives of three-tier panchayat bodies in all 28 districts will be held simultaneously, an official said.

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With the announcement of the polls, the model code of conduct has come into force in these panchayat bodies, State Election Commissioner (SEC) Thakur Ramsingh said in a press conference here.

"Elections will be held in five gram (village) panchayats of Kondagaon district and three of Korea district. Bypolls will be held to elect three Zilla Panchayat members, one each in Raigarh, Surajpur and Bijapur districts, 30 Janpad Panchayat members, 235 sarpanches and 1,807 panch," he said.

He said 2,228 polling booths will be established for the polls, with 18,57,235 people, comprising 9,27,719 male, 9,29,490 female and 26 from the third gender, being eligible to vote, he added.

"The process of filing of nominations for the polls will begin on December 28 and the last date is January 3, while the scrutiny of nomination forms will be done the next day. Candidates can withdraw their names till January 6," he said

Voting will take place on January 20 from 7 am to 3 pm, followed by counting at the booths, or if need be, in the block headquarters or tehsils on January 21, he said.

The polls, which are not on party lines, will be held through ballot papers, the official informed.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)