Bhubaneswar: Barring a few incidents of violence, the second phase of panchayat elections went off smoothly Friday in Odisha with about 71 per cent polling. A total of 62.10 lakh voters were eligible to vote in the second phase. However, the polling percentage may go up as the final report is yet to come, State Election Commissioner Aditya Prasad Padhi said here. There was 77.2 per cent polling during the first phase of panchayat elections held in the state, Wednesday.
As per schedule, voting began at 7.00am and continued till 1.00 pm. However, in places where voters were seen standing in queues, they were allowed to cast their votes beyond the time limit.
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The election was held for the post of 168 ZP members at 20,436 booths in 1,514 panchayats in 68 blocks across the state, the SEC said.
In view of incidents of violence reported in the first leg of the polls, the Commission had asked the DGP to ensure law and order during the election and Friday the situation during the poll improved, said Padhi.
“As per preliminary reports, the polling was disrupted in some booths of Jagatsinghpur and Jajpur districts due to law and order problems. Re-polling is likely at two to three places where voting was affected due to errors in ballot papers,” he said.
After getting detailed reports from the district collectors, the Commission will examine them and take a decision in this regard soon, Padhi added.