Bhubaneswar: Amid incidents of violence in some places, the last phase of the three-tier panchayat elections was completed in Odisha with a polling percentage of about 74 per cent.
State Election Commissioner Aditya Prasad Padhi said approximately 74 per cent out of 41.88 lakh voters exercised their franchise. However, the final figure will only be available Friday.
Elections were held for 131 Zilla Parishad (ZP) seats at 13,514 booths in 975 gram panchayats (GPs) of 48 blocks in 25 districts. In spite of the best efforts of the government, incidents of violence were reported from a number of places.
A ballot box was allegedly found unsealed while being deposited at AB High School after end of the elections in Basudebvpur of Bhadrak district. Infuriated over the incident, some people attacked the three presiding officers.
Six people were arrested in this connection. The injured officers were identified as Malay Ranjan Sahu, Santosh Khillar and Surendra Sethi.
Disturbances were reported from nine booths of Niali block in Cuttack district after ballot boxes were allegedly thrown into a pond. Rigging allegations also surfaced in some booths of Kalahandi district.
In another incident, a BJDbacked sarpanch candidate was attacked by some BJP workers at Padhani panchayat under Dhamnagar block in Bhadrak district.
Candidate Sarat Chandra Sahu and some of his supporters had gone to booth No. 2 after getting information rigging was in process. Talking on the election disturbances, Padhi said action will be taken after getting a detailed report from the concerned district collectors.
The Election Commissioner further said all arrangements were made for 2.79 crore voters to elect 1,06,353 representatives for Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) at 91,913 booths in this rural poll.
He added that 36,523 ward members, 126 sarpanchs, 326 panchayat samiti members and one ZP member were elected unopposed.
Over 1 lakh polling officials and nearly 40,000 police personnel were deployed for the smooth conduct of the elections.
For the first time, Maoist-hit Malkangiri district recorded over 70 per cent polling in the first four phases. The polls passed off peacefully in the Maoist hot belt, Swabhiman Anchal in Malkangiri district.
PNN