Except stray minor incidents, the polling for the Baleswar Municipality elections was by and large peaceful on Thursday. A person was arrested after he damaged an EVM by dropping it on the ground. A new EVM was installed in the Ward-20 booth.
The enraged voter, who damaged the machine, had failed to provide proof of his identity as asked for by the polling officials.
There was a clash between two groups of two candidates in Ward-5 after one candidate accused the other of wooing voters by offering money on the street. The situation was brought under control following intervention by DIG of Police Asit Panigrahi.
“In a few places, we allowed more time for polling because of EVM malfunctioning,” said ADM Akshay Mohanty.In Baleswar district, the polling in the Jaleswar, Nilgiri and Soro NACs was also held on the day.