Ranchi, May 21 (PTI) Eligible candidates of around 38 per cent of the 15,376 panchayat seats were declared elected unopposed in the third phase of rural polls in Jharkhand, election officials said on Saturday.There was only one eligible candidate in each of the 5,950 seats after the deadline for withdrawal and rejection of nomination papers was over, they said.In the third phase, a total of 35,729 aspirants had filed nominations for 15,376 seats — 12,911 panchayat members, 1,047 mukhiyas, 1,290 panchayat committee representatives and 128 zilla parishad members.After the withdrawal and rejection of papers, 33,293 nominees in 70 blocks across 19 districts were found eligible.Of them, 27,343 candidates will contest the May 24 polls, while 5,950 were declared elected unopposed, an official said, citing the data of the State Election Commission.The counting of votes will take place on May 31, he said.Panchayat polls are not held on party lines in Jharkhand.Meanwhile, the counting of votes for the first phase of polls held on May 14 has been completed in 20 of the 21 districts, another election official said.The counting in Giridih district is still going on, he said.The counting of votes for the second-phase polls that were held on May 19 will start from Sunday.A total of 1,127 panchayats went to the polls in the first round and 872 in the second phase. Over 68 per cent of voters exercised their franchise in each of the two rounds of the rural polls. PTI SAN BDC BDC