Bhubaneswar, February 16: In the first phase of voting for the three-tier Panchayat elections on Wednesday, 70 per cent voter turnout was recorded, as per data shared by the State Election Commission (SEC).
“As per the latest report received from districts, there was a 70 per cent turnout in the first phase. The polling percentage may go up as the final report is yet to come,” said State Election Commissioner Aditya Prasad Padhi.
The voter turnout in the 2017 Panchayat poll was around 78 per cent while there was 76.65 per cent polling in the first phase.
As per SEC schedule, the voting started at 7 AM and continued till 1 PM. The timing was extended in some places where voters were seen standing in queue.
“Violence has been reported in three booths of Dhenkanal district, seven booths of Jajpur district and five booths of Puri district,” said Padhi, adding that the future course of action will be taken after receiving reports from the concerned district Collectors.
In the first phase, the election was held at 22,379 booths in 1,669 Panchayats in 70 Blocks of the State for 200 Zilla Parishad Members, 1,669 Sarpanches, 1,669 Panchayat Samiti Members and 22,379 Ward Members.
However, the poll for 13 Ward members, six Sarpanches, three PS Members and one ZP member was countermanded due to sudden death of contesting candidates. Fresh elections will be held for these posts later.
Elections will be held in five phases – February 16, 18, 20, 22 and 24.
