Bhubaneswar: The opening day of the five phase Panchayat elections witnessed a 70% vote on Tuesday amidst the incident of violence and a lost booth, when people instill Maoist threats in several districts and Covid concerns in general.
The selection is more than 6% less than the last time, but the last number can rise.
The Commissioner of the State Election (SEC) Aditya Prasad Padhi said except for sporadic incidents of violence and dissipline, the vote was mostly peaceful.
“The Commission has taken seriously incidents (violence) and has requested DGP to ensure the incident-free voting in the following phases,” Padhi said at a press conference.
Padhi said the poll was disturbed in several booths because of the legal and order situation.
Quoting the initial report, he said voting was interrupted in seven rooms in Jajpur, five in Puri and three in Dhenkanal.
“The Commission will make the right decision about these booths after getting a detailed report from the district government,” he added.
The source said several voting boxes were taken from a booth in Kashijharia Village from Chetanmanik Panchayat under the Brahmagiri Block of Puri Regency.
More than 20 people were involved in clashes at Alanda Pancayat, under the Krushnaprasad block in Puri, where some of them were injured.