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| A polling booth at Haldikudar in Sundargarh district. Polling took place under the open sky and the booth’s walls are made of tree branches. Picture by Uttam Kumar Pal A polling booth at Haldikudar in Sundargarh district. Polling took place under the open sky and the booth’s walls are made of tree branches. Picture by Uttam Kumar Pal |
Bhubaneswar, Feb. 17: More than 70 per cent voters exercised their franchise in the fourth phase of the panchayat polls. Reports of booth capturing and violence came in from some areas.
The state election commission ordered repolling in 31 wards following reports of booth capturing and poll boycott. According to the state election commission, polling was suspended at 11 wards in Jajpur, nine in Cuttack district, five in Nayagarh and four in Kendrapara for capturing booths. Besides, polling could not be held in one ward each in Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh as voters boycotted voting.
Reports from Jajpur said goons snatched away ballot boxes from five booths in Golkund panchayat in Bari block and dumped them in nearby ponds. Goons also forcibly took away ballot boxes from two booths of Ratalanga gram panchayat and tossed them into a well. Incidents of ballot box snatching were also reported from two booths located in Jahanpur and Chhatis Debil of Jajpur block.
Goons looted ballot papers from two booths in Bandhapada and Nurupur panchayat of Bari block where polling had to be stopped.
Police today recovered 11 live bombs from a booth in Dattapur village of Bari block. Supporters of two political parties today allegedly clashed outside the booth in Jhalapada panchayat of Jajpur block. However, they were chased away by police.
Nineteen persons were injured; eight of them seriously, in three separate incidents of post-poll violence in Jajpur. In the first incident, at least four persons were injured, two of them seriously, in a post-poll clash between two groups at Ambikasahi of Kundapatana village. The incident took place on Wednesday night when around 15 supporters of a sarpanch candidate allegedly attacked the supporters of his rival. Additional police forces have been deployed in the troubled area to avoid any untoward incident.
In the second incident, three persons were injured when a ward member candidate of Fartipur village of Korei block allegedly attacked his rivals yesterday.
In another incident, at least 12 Congress supporters were injured at Mainda under Binjharpur police station limits when supporters of the BJD allegedly attacked them last night. Voting in nine booths under Niali block in Cuttack district was today suspended following alleged rigging.
Polling in four booths of Purbapokharigaon panchayat was stopped following tension between two groups. Voting was also cancelled at five booths under Deghei panchayat following alleged irregularities.“Voting could not take place because of irregularities in nine booths. We will submit our report to the state election commission for action in this regard,” said Cuttack district collector Girish S.N.
Two persons were also injured in a clash between two groups at Baghamara village in Tohodi panchayat, police sources said. Two Congress members —Benudhar Biswal and Khirod Biswal — were injured in the attack. Following the tension, voting remained suspended for nearly 45 minutes, after which it resumed.
In Mayurbhanj, pre-poll violence was reported from Kuliana. Bangriposhi MLA Sarojini Hembram was attacked by a rival political party while campaigning for her party candidate in Bhatuabadagai Sahi village in Kuliana. Hembram escaped unhurt. Police rounded up five persons in connection with the violence, said sub-divisional police officer Sudhakar Jena.