Shimla, May 31 -- Polling for the third and final phase of the panchayati raj institutions in Himachal Pradesh registered a 80.5% 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 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. Among the districts, Sirmaur recorded the highest turnover with 85.18%, Kullu recorded the highest turnout at 84.6%, and Lahaul Spiti reported the lowest at 71%. Six districts recorded more than 80% voter turnout- Sirmaur (85.1%), Solan (83.8%), Shimla (82.74%), Mandi 81.6% , Kullu (84.66%) and Chamba (80.6%) No untoward incident was reported, police said. A total of 15,40,324 voters-comprising 7,76,802 men, 7,63,517 women, and five third gender voters-are eligible to exercise their franchise across 1,189 panchayats in the final leg. To streamline the voting process, the administration has deployed colour-coded ballot papers: White for ward members, yellow for up-pradhans, green for pradhans, pink for panchayat samiti members, and blue for zila parishad members. This concludes a massive democratic exercise across 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 zila parishad members. Out of the total pool of candidates, 10,854 office-bearers have already been elected unopposed. The three-phase election covers nearly 50.8 lakh eligible voters. The first phase saw a 78.9% turnout across 1,293 panchayats, while the second phase on May 28 recorded an 80% turnout across 1,276 panchayats. The counting for the zila parishad, panchayat samitis, and the four municipal corporations of Solan, Mandi, Palampur, and Dharamshala will take place on Sunday. The municipal corporation votes will be counted at their respective headquarters, while the zila parishad and panchayat samiti tallies will be conducted at their respective block headquarters. Continuing the trend from the first two phases, women outvoted men in 11 districts during the third phase. Female voter turnout reached 83.5%, while male turnout stood at 77.69%. Shimla was the sole exception to this trend. In Shimla, male turnout reached 83.35%, which slightly surpassed the female turnout of 82.56%. Himachal is witnessing high voter enthusiasm, highlighted by villagers in Jhandutta's Naghiyar Panchayat carrying an immobile voter to the polling station in a makeshift palanquin. Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's 88-year-old mother, Sansar Dei, also exercised her franchise. In Ward Kas of Kas Panchayat within the Jogindernagar assembly constituency, 105-year-old Basanti Devi cast her vote. 105-year-old Draupadi Devi, a resident of Gunsawai village, cast her vote at the Atal Adarsh Vidyalaya in Dabrot Gram Panchayat. During the elections, a special health check-up camp was organised for the convenience of voters at Government Senior Secondary School, Randhara, a designated model polling station within the Mandi Sadar development block. Under this initiative, various health-related services were made available to people arriving to cast their votes. Rupinder Kaur, assistant election officer and SDM (Sadar), stated that a total of 162 people underwent screening for non-communicable diseases at the health camp organised at the model polling station. Healthcare services were provided at polling stations to promote public health awareness alongside civic duty of voting. The voting process was briefly disrupted in Manglaur Panchayat located within the Banjar Development Block of Kullu district due to the incorrect placement of a candidate's name alongside the election symbol for a block development council (BDC) member seat. On the ballot papers, the names of the BDC candidates had been erroneously listed next to each other's respective election symbols. On noticing this discrepancy, the voting process was halted. Following checking, the two specific ballot papers on which the candidates' names had been interchanged were cancelled. Subsequently, the voting process was resumed. During the polling, a unique blend of 'Dev' culture and democracy was witnessed at the Kandha polling station in Ward Number 1 of the Talada Gram Panchayat in Kullu district. At the polling station, the polling party conducted the voting while seated on the floor. The decision to conduct the voting from the floor of the room was taken by the polling party out of respect for the deity, Garg Rishi. State Congress president Vinay Kumar expressed confidence that the election results for the state's four municipal corporations would turn out in the Congress party's favour. BJP state president Rajeev Bindal launched a scathing attack on the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led state governmentwhile accusing the government of "attempting to hijack" the urban local body and panchayati raj elections in the state. Former BJP national president and Union minister Jagat Prakash Nadda, after casting his vote, said, "Panchayati raj institutions form the foundation of India's democratic structure and play a crucial role in rural development and local governance. Therefore, active participation in these polls is essential for ensuring effective and representative leadership at the grassroots level". Former chief minister and leader of the Opposition, Jai Ram Thakur said, "By delivering unprecedented victories to candidates aligned with the BJP ideology-securing approximately 75% of the seats-they have sent a clear message that the people of the state are fed up with the current government's policies"....