In Jharkhand, the first of the five-phase panchayat elections in the state recorded 68 per cent polling yesterday. The state election commissioner S D Sharma said that the polling was peaceful. Mr. Sharma said a total of 16,201 candidates, including 9378 women, have been in the fray for the first phase of polling for gram panchayat members, mukhias, panchayat samiti members and members for the zilla parishad. He said that Jharkhand is going for the rural polls for the first time since its creation on November 15, 2000 even as the region did not have elected rural bodies for the last 32 years.