First phase of rural polls ends amid violence

Bhubaneswar/Nuapada/Chitrakonda: Voting for first phase of the five phases three-tier panchayat polls ended today in Odisha amid cases of poll violence reported at different parts of the State.

In Jagdalpur panchayat of Patakura, some miscreants looted ballot box from the booth no 14 and threw it into a river nearby.

In Reng village under Bureshwar panchayat under Komna block of Nuapada district, tension erupted after some unidentified miscreants barged into the booth no 12 and poured petrol onto ballot box and torched it.

Also read: 1st phase panchayat polls: No polling in 9 GPs in 8 dists

In Kantamala, voters of Laida village under Dapala gram panchayat protested in front of polling booth no 10 demanding fresh polls while alleging sarpanch candidate Hemananda Mahakuda captured the booth and casted vote alone.

In Brahmagiri, three persons were injured in a case of poll violence at Rahadamalla village and admitted to a local hospital.

Also read: Rural polls: Voting for first phase begins

In another poll violence case reported in Brahmagiri, husband of a Ghatukuli panchayat woman sarpanch candidate was attacked lethally.

In a related development, posters and banners claiming to be of CPI (Maoist) Malkangiri Zonal Committee were found in front of the Somnathpur Panchayat Office in Korakonda block. The ultra wrote message in the posters and banners asking villagers to boycott the rural poll.