The third-phase panchayat polls would be held in all 30 districts of the State on Friday. The polling would begin at 7 am and continue till12 noon.
State Election Commission (SEC) Secretary Rabindranath Sahu told reporters that a total of 53,234,993 voters would exercise franchise to elect 18,859 Ward Members and Sarpanches and PS members in 1,394 GPs and 175 Zilla Parishad (ZP) members in 65 blocks. Sahu said additional police forces have been deployed at the sensitive booths to ward off any untoward incident in sensitive, hypersensitive and Maoist-hit areas.
Informing that the voting would be held in Deogarh district, the SEC Secretary said, “Elections would be held for 26 Sarpanches, equal number of PS Members and 312 Ward Members in two Zilla Parishad zones of Riamal block. A total of 74,163 people would exercise their franchise.”
He said three-tier security arrangements have been put in place in Deogarh district to maintain law and order during the polls.
Sahu informed that the commission received reports of 21 incidents of violence and two incidents relating to poll disturbances. The district Collectors’ suggestion to hold re-polling in some booths would be decided soon. He said the number of violent incidents in the second phase was less than that in the first phase.