71% Voting In Second Phase Of Odisha Panchayat Polls Marred By Rigging & Errors In Ballot Paper

Bhubaneswar: Barring a few incidents that disrupted the poll process, the second phase of Panchayat elections in Odisha concluded smoothly on Friday with an estimated 71 per cent voter turnout, the State Election Commission informed.

The percentage may go up, he said, as people who were already at the booths after 1 pm were allowed to cast their votes.

A total of 62.10 lakh voters were to cast their votes at 20,436 polling booths to seal the fate of 747 candidates in the fray for the 186 Zilla Parishad (ZP) posts in 1514 panchayats across 68 blocks in the state.

“The polling was disrupted in parts of Jagatsinghpur and Jajpur due to violence. Repolling is likely at three places where voting was affected due to errors in ballot papers,” he added.

Polling at booth no-II and III in Kanikapada Panchayat of Jajpur was disrupted after miscreants allegedly tore up ballot papers before fleeing with some of them. In Jagatsinghpur, some miscreants created ruckus and ransacked two booths at Patasara panchayat under Zilla Parishad zone I.

Notably, voting was stopped at Loisinga Thakurpali Booth-11 in Balangir over allegations that the ballot paper given by the presiding officer had only 3 symbols for 6 sarpanch candidates. Tension flared up in Ward No. 7 in Dahana panchayat under Nandahandi block in Nabaranpur district after it was found that ballot papers had been tampered with. Voting was halted as ballot papers were found pre-marked in favour of a Sarpanch candidate.

This apart, police had reportedly resorted to lathi-charge after Gaisilet police station in-charge sustained injuries on the head following a face-off with people outside the polling booth in Kathaumal village under Gaisilet block in Bargarh district.

These incidents were reported despite the presence of 240 platoons of the police force and 1753 mobile patrolling parties along with district police officers across the state. The security was heightened to maintain law and order after violence marred the first one.

Notably, 77.2 per cent of voters had exercised their franchise during the first phase of the election on Wednesday.