Stray incidents mar first phase panchayat polls in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The first phase panchayat poll witnessed some stray incidents in Odisha on Monday.

While polling was boycotted by people at a few areas, booths were also captured by supporters of candidates at some places. Minor clashes involving supporters of different parties were also reported from some areas.

Voting boycotted in Keonjhar

Voters of seven booths of K Balipal Panchayat under Hatadihi block of the district boycotted the first phase rural election by not allowing the polling officials to enter into the locality.

Voters of ward no 2,3,4,5,6,7 and 8 of the Panchayat boycotted the election.

Alleging unavailability of basic amenities in their respective wards despite repeated requests, the voters blocked the vehicles carrying the polling officials.

“As per schedule, we arrived in the Panchayat early in the morning for the voting. But around 300 to 400 locals waylaid us and did not allow us to reach the booths. As a result voting could not take place in the seven booths,” informed Ananda Chandra Sethy, BDO Hatadihi block.

Ballot box looted in Kendrapara

Police recovered the ballot box which was looted from Jagdalpur village of Patkura block in the district from Chitroptala river here on Monday.

According to sources, police traced the ballot box in the river after a massive search.

Some miscreants had looted the ballot box from booth no 14 under Jagdalpur Panchayat soon after the completion of voting and had thrown it into the river.

Miscreants torch ballot box in Nuapada

Tension ran high at Renga village under Bureswara Panchayat of Komna block in the district after some unidentified miscreants set the ballot box on fire here on Monday.

Sources said, some miscreants barged into booth no 12 and torched the ballot box after pouring kerosene on it.

On being informed, Collector Md. Sadique Alam and Superintendent of Police (SP) Madkar Sandeep Sampat reached the spot and started investigation.