2nd phase panchayat polls held peacefully in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Barring minor incidents, the second phase of the three-tier Panchayat polls concluded peacefully across Odisha on Wednesday.

The voting which began at 7 am concluded at 12 pm. However, the voters, who were in queue, cast their franchise even after the deadline.

State Election Commission (SEC) sources said the voter turnout was over 60%. However, it would declare the final voter turnout in the afternoon on Wednesday.

The voting was held at 175 Zilla Parishad zones under 65 blocks of 29 districts except Deogarh.

thousands of voters cast their votes in 1,386 Gram Panchayats having 18, 581 wards.

The State Election Commission (SEC) has made elaborate arrangements including security for the smooth conduct of the polls. CCTV cameras have been installed at all the sensitive and hyper sensitive booths.