Nayagarh: The total number of the polling officials suspended for dereliction of their duty in the second phase polls in Odisha went up to 14 on Friday with the suspension of eight officials by the Nayagarh collector N Thirumala Naik.
The eight suspended polling officials include two presiding officers, two sector officials and four polling officers.
Reports said polling was suspended in booth no- 201 and 222 due to faulty installation of EVM for which four officials were suspended while the four other officials were suspended for not joining their duty at these booths.
Earlier in the day, Bargarh district collector Indramani Tripathy had suspended six polling officials for dereliction of their duty.
Of the six polling officials, three are presiding officers and three sector officers. They are Uma Shankar Panigrahi (presiding officer) and Manoranjan Panigrahi (sector officer) of booth no-68, Priyabrata Sahu (presiding officer) and Prashant Sethi (sector officer) of booth no-235, Ratam Sethi (presiding officer) and Pradip Pradhan (sector officer) of booth no-116.