Villagers cast vote to choose Panchayat in Jaleswar

Balasore: The villagers of Jamalpur and Chaughani under Jaleswar block in Baleswar district cast their votes today to choose between the two newly-formed Kotsahi and Rayaramachandrapur panchayats following bifurcation of the Rayaramachandrapur gram panchayat.

The voting which began at 9am continued till 2pm ended peacefully. Around 300 voters exercised their franchise to decide the gram panchayat of their choice. The district administration had deployed police forces at the polling site to ensure smooth conduct of the voting.

“The main objective here is to ensure that the people get the benefits of various government schemes. For this people should be able to communicate their issues and problems to the government through the panchayats, which have to be accessible,” said a resident of Jamalapur resident.

“We want a panchayat which is near to our locality and is accessible to us. It will benefit us in the future as well,” said a Chaughani resident.

“The counting of votes will be done as per court order. We will take action based on the final hearing of the case or on the orders passed by the court,” said Jaleswar Tehsildar Ramchandra Kisku.

Notably, the High Court had directed the district administration to hold public voting after division of the gram panchayat triggered controversy over inclusion of two villages, Jamalpur and Chaughani, in the gram panchayats. As per the law, the Rayaramachandrapur gram panchayat has been divided into two gram panchayats- Kotsahi and Rayaramachandrapur.