71% voter turnout in first phase Odisha panchayat polls

Bhubaneswar: The first phase of panchayat polls recorded 71% turnout in Odisha on Monday.

“The state witnessed 71% turnout in the first phase panchayat polls. While Sonepur district recorded the highest turnout of 84.3 percent, Bolangir district recorded the lowest with 60 percent turnout of voters,” State Election Commissioner (SEC) RN Senapati told reporters here.

He said barring some minor violence at few places, the election was smooth.

Senapati said his office has received information about some minor incidents including booth capturing, ballot box looting and boycotting of votes at some places.

“We will take further steps for re-polling after getting a detailed report from district collectors,” said SEC.

In the first phase of the five-phased rural election, the voting was held earlier on Monday for 188 Zilla Parishad seats, 1,506 Sarpanch seats, 1,506 Samiti member seats and 20,369 Ward Member seats.