Bhubaneswar: Fearing Maoists attack, as many as 36 polling officials deployed at six polling booths in Banda Ghati area of Malkangiri district had to walk down 15 km inside dense forests after the polling Thursday and reached the Malkangiri district headquarters Friday morning.
Polling was held for 28 Assembly seats and four Lok Sabha seats in Kalahandi, Koraput, Berhampur and Nabarangpur districts Thursday.
The 36 polling officials were deployed in six booths in Mudulipada areas.
Describing their ordeal, the poll officials on reaching the Malkangiri said they were asked to walk down when they were preparing to board vehicles to return to the district headquarters, after the polling was over at 4pm, as it was not safe for them to move by vehicles.
All the polling officials then started walking accompanied by the security personnel. They had to eat biscuits provided by the security personnel, consume water from a nearby nullah (tap) and sleep under the open sky on the top of a mountain in the night. They had a harrowing time when rain lashed the area in the night.
In the morning they started walking again and reached the Collector’s office safely.