Ph. 2 Odisha rural polls: Miscreants loot ballot boxes at many places in Odisha, dump in ponds

By Akshaya Rout

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 18: The second phase of Odisha rural polls held on Friday marked unidentified miscreants forcibly entering the polling booths at several places and snatching away ballot boxes.

In Jagatsinghpur, around 15 unidentified anti-social elements beat up the presiding officers at Ali-Pingal area and took away ballot boxes. Despite their strong resistance, the presiding officers and villagers could not prevent the armed anti-socials from decamping with the ballot boxes.

In Jajpur, the miscreants snatched away ballot boxes from a booth at Kanikapada and dumped them in a nearby pond.

Reports from Cuttack district said tension prevailed at Baranga in Cuttack district after miscreants snatched the ballot box after terrorising the people present at the booth. The armed miscreants decamped with a ballot box from booth number 11. Though a Sarpanch candidate and others tried to stop the miscreants, they could not save the ballot box.

Palpable tension prevailed in the area after the villagers staged a road blockade demanding immediate arrest of the culprits involved in the loot of the ballot box.

The villagers also demanded re-polling at the booth. A complaint in this connection was lodged at the Cuttack Sadar Police station.

As per reports, the incident occurred when the voting had already ended at the booth and the officials were sealing the ballot boxes which were to be shifted to the Block headquarters. It was then the miscreants entered the booth and decamped with a ballot box. They later threw it in a pond in the vicinity.

In Kalahandi district, the personal vehicle of a presiding officer reportedly carrying a ballot box came under attack from locals in Komna block.  The mob, suspecting some foul play, damaged the vehicle.

The irate locals detained the polling party despite the culmination of voting in the area. The villagers raised serious doubts over the transportation of a ballot box in the personal vehicle of the presiding officer, hastening the attack.

The second phase voting concluded with 71 per cent voters exercising their franchise, the State Election Commissioner Aditya Prasad Padhi said. The percentage of voting is likely to go up after further compilation of the data.

“Apart from stray incidents of violence, the overall polls were conducted peacefully across the State,” said Padhi.