Brisk polling in second phase despite violence

BHUBANESWAR: Even as the Opposition parties hurled allegations of booth capturing and rigging at the ruling Biju Janata Dal, the second round of panchayat polls on Monday was marked by high turnout notwithstanding outbreak of violence at several districts.The second round of the three-tier poll saw a voter turnout of almost 70 per cent with Subarnapur recording the highest polling of 83 per cent. Cuttack, which had reported the highest polling in the first phase, reported lowest in the current phase with 60 per cent turnout.While early trends pointed towards victory of the ruling party, there were incidents  of rigging and booth capturing in Gajapati, Cuttack, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur and  Kandhamal.In Cuttack’s Salepur, ballot boxes were set afire in five booths at Sunderpur, Bandhakatia and Harirajpur villages of Bandhakatia gram panchayat under Nischintakoili block after a scuffle between the BJD and the Congress workers.In a separate incident, supporters of a Congress candidate for sarpanch post entered two booths of Ramaranga village,  snatched away two ballot boxes and dumped them in a pond.Similar reports came in from Jajpur where rigging and snatching of ballot boxes marked the second phase of polls in Rasulpur and Korei blocks. In Boudh, a polling agent of Congress and another party worker were allegedly dragged out of the Roxa booth and assaulted by the BJD workers.Reports from Ganjam said voters of Haridapadar gram panchayat blocked the Aska-Bhubaneswar main road at Kotinada Nuapalli under Aska police limits demanding re-polling.The State Election Commission reported that polling parties were not allowed to reach the polling station in 11 wards of Ajayagada gram panchayat of Gajapati district.In Kashinagar, rigging was reported at Kharada and Karadasingh while polling was not allowed at Patrada. In two blocks each of Balasore and Bhadrak, poll was boycotted.The incidents, however, did not deter the voters from coming out in large numbers. At least 20 districts recorded over 70 per cent turnout. In Malkangiri, the second phase saw 65 per cent polling.Meanwhile, the early trends indicated that at least 147 to 150 Zilla Parishad seats may go to the BJD while Congress is likely to win about 30.The second round polls was conducted in 197 ZP zones, 1,475 GPs across 20,481 booths in 83 blocks of the State.