Fifteen of 22 booths, in the first phase, went to re-poll in Chitrakonda Assembly segment under Nabarangpur lok Sabha seat on Thursday recorded nil polling as voters did not turn up to cast vote in fear of Maoists threat.
The Election Commission had ordered for re-polling in 22 booths in the Maoist-dominated Malkangiri district, where voting was vitiated due to snatching and burning of EVM machines by the left Wing Extremists on April 10.The re-polling was held under tight security in the 22 booths between 7 am to 3 pm and passed off peacefully without any untoward incident, Chief Electoral Officer Mona Sharma said.
Zero polling in 8 M’giri booths
However, she said since there was a virtual poll boycott, no further polling would be taken up in those booths. It would be treated as adjourned voting, she said.The fifteen booths include eighth booths at Andrapalli, Sanyasiguda, Handikhol, Panasputa, Singori, Gonasety, Jantri and Kamarpali and one in Mathili block while the seven are in the cut-off area.
According to sources, very few voters turned up to cast their votes in other seven booths. Only 12 voters turned up to booths at Kunduli under Patangi Assembly constituency. Similarly re-polling at Ramgiri under the Kotpad Assembly constituency recorded 45 per cent polling.Voters did not come in large numbers to vote at Kunduli as the polling station was set up around 32 km from their place of residence.
In the first phase, the Malkangiri district reported a record poll turnout of 69.2 per cent, 24 per cent more than that of the 2009 elections.