Bhubaneswar, Nov. 22: Despite the “no court, no vote” call given by the lawyers demanding a separate bench of Orissa High Court in the region and the Maoist threat, the civic elections in west Odisha passed off peacefully today.

“Polling was by and large peaceful with 69 per cent voters exercising their franchise,” said Rabindra Nath Sahu, special secretary to the State Election Commission.

Sahu said polling was disrupted at two to three booths due to snags in the electronic voting machines.

Tight security measures were taken to thwart any Maoist attack on the polling booths in some of the western districts, which are affected by Left-wing extremism. Polling was held in 560 booths for 301 wards in 20 urban local bodies in nine districts.

However, elections were not held in Balangir and Titilagarh as no nomination paper was filed due to protest by local residents and agitating lawyers.

Local residents boycotted the civic polls in Balangir in support of demand for establishment of high court bench in the district. Similarly, there was boycott of urban election in Titilagarh demanding a separate district.

Though the lawyers of western Odisha have been agitating demanding establishment of separate high court benches in the region, they, however, did not obstruct the polling today.

Secretary of Sambalpur Bar Association S.S. Sahu said: “The political parties had decided to boycott the election when the poll was declared last time. However, they participated in the election this time. We had picketed at several places during the nomination and opposed the nomination process but all the political parties participated in the election.”

In a tactical move, the state government could keep Sambalpur, the nerve centre of the high court bench agitation, out of the poll process promising the prominent western Odisha town corporation status.

Earlier, urban elections in western Odisha could not be held on September 19 because of the lawyers’ agitation over the issue. Though in a bid to placate the agitating lawyers, Naveen Patnaik had on September 28 recommended to the Centre for establishment of high court benches in west and south Odisha, Union law minister Kapil Sibal wrote back on October 24 saying that high court chief justice’s permission was required in the matter. He also asked the state government to identify the exact locations for setting up these benches and provide land.