Phase 3 ends amid stray cases

BHUBANESWAR: The victory of BJD candidates continued in the third phase of panchayat polls held on Wednesday amid stray cases of booth-capturing and boycott.  About 69 per cent of 53.88 lakh voters exercised their franchise across the State with Boudh district recording the highest 85 per cent polling. The lowest polling of 50 per cent was reported from Maoist-affected Koraput district. Suspected Maoists snatched ballot boxes and papers in Trilochanpur gram panchayat (GP) of Lanjigarh block in Kalahandi district. Combing operation by the special operations group (SOG) was going on. In another incident, three miscreants entered a booth in Sahebdera mission primary school in Barkaldihi GP and snatched all the ballot papers before burning them. They were handed over to the police. The incident occurred at 9.20 am and polling started again after 20 minutes. Snatching of ballot papers was reported in Jari GP of Binjharpur block in Jajpur district. Miscreants snatched ballot boxes and papers in seven wards of Bagadiha GP in Kujang block of Jagatsinghpur district and several booths in Ganjam district.  According to the State Election Commission, snatching of ballot papers has been reported from Kudutei GP of Jagannathprasad block in Ganjam district. There were disturbances in seven booths of Badakodanda, Khandadeuli and Khamarigaon gram panchayats in the district. The district administration has submitted preliminary report about the incidents to the commission. Polling had to be stopped in Zilla Parishad zone No. 3 in Khurda district because of supply of wrong ballot papers. Besides, polling was also stopped in wards  8 and 11 of Gudialipadar GP in Kalahandi district due to wrong folding of sarpanch ballot paper. Boycotting of polls was reported from several places in Keonjhar, Balasore, Mayurbhanj and Rayagada districts. Voters boycotted alleging inaction of local administration to their grievances. According to reports, the BJD had won in 149 of the 188 ZP seats. Congress was able to win in 23 seats followed by BJP in 11. Results of all the five phases of panchayat polls will be officially announced on February 22.