KOLHAPUR: Total 191 zilla parishad seats and 382 panchayat samiti seats in Kolhapur, Sangli and Satara districts of south Maharashtra are going to polls on Tuesday.The campaigning for the elections has ended on Sunday but activities continued with every political worker trying to reach out to voters at a personal level.The district administrations are busy in final preparations to conduct free and fair elections.In Kolhapur, 21.38 lakh voters will decide the fate of 322 candidates contesting the 67 zilla parishad seats and 583 candidates in the fray for the 134 panchayat samiti seats.District returning officer Vivek Agawane said, "Preparations have been completed and we are now ready to conduct the polls. The EVM machines and all the other necessary material for the government officials who will be on duty at polling booths have reached the respective booths."This time we will be putting flex boards outside the polling booths which will contain the candidates' affidavits they had submitted to the election commission regarding their qualification, financial assets and other details. Voters can check these affidavits before casting their vote," he said.In Sangli district, 225 candidates are in fray for the 60 zilla parishad seats and 367 are in fray for the 120 panchayat samiti seats. Total 16 lakh voters are expected to exercise their right.The district administration has set up 1,824 polling booths, out of which 208 have been identified as sensitive. As many as 12,978 government officials are on election duty across the district. The district administration has declared public holiday on Tuesday to help voters participate in the process. Instructions have been given to all government offices, industries, business establishments, hotels, malls and shopping centres to ensure that their workers exercise their right to vote.In Satara district 289 candidates area in fray for 64 zilla parishad seats. For the 128 seats of panchayat samitis, 535 candidates are in fray. The district has 19.66 lakh voters and 2,582 booths have been set up for the polling. Total 11,852 officials are on duty for the polls.The polling will start at 7.30am on Tuesday and will conclude at 5.30pm. The heads of district administrations have appealed to the people participate in the process, elect the candidate of their choice and strengthen democracy. The counting of votes will be done on February 23.

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