Shimla, May 31 -- Polling for the third and final phase of panchayati raj institutions in Himachal Pradesh registered a 80.59% voter turnout on Saturday despite widespread rainfall in the state.

Long queues of voters of all age groups were seen early at polling stations across the state.

Veteran voters participated with enthusiasm, including chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's 88-year-old mother, Sansar Dei, who cast her vote, and 105-year-old Basanti Devi, who exercised her franchise in Ward Kas of Kas panchayat in Jogindernagar assembly constituency.

In a striking display of democratic spirit, villagers in the Naghiyar panchayat of Jhandutta, Bilaspur, carried a person unable to walk to the polling booth in a makeshift palanquin....