By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Panchayat-ZP Polls Comes to an end amid large scale violence on Thursday through 5 phases, voting for which ended today. Voting for the fifth and final phase of Panchayat Polls in Odisha began at 7 AM in 25 districts of the State today and continued till 1 PM.55 percent polling in final & fifth phase panchayat elections in Odisha till 12.30 pm till last reports came in.
A total of 41,88,382 voters were exercising their franchise during the fifth phase of the three-tier panchayat polls in 48 blocks. The polling held at a total of 13,514 booths in 131 Zilla Parishad zones and 975 Gram Panchayats during this phase. The sources added as many as 520 candidates have been contesting for Zilla Parishad positions in the final phase of the rural polls.
Meanwhile, voting in Maoists hit aeas remain peaceful and no reports of violence. “Voting going on peacefully in remote and LWE affected- Swabhiman Anchal area of Malkangiri. The area is witnessing elections after a gap of 10 years with much enthusiasm from local populace. @digswrkoraput @DGPOdisha @dm_malkangiri,” Malkangiri Police tweeted @spmalkangiri
Villagers of Jodamba, Panasput, Andarapali, Jantri, Ralegarh and Gajalmamudi village in the Swabhiman Anchal were seen casting their votes to elect candidates for 2 Zilla Parishad (ZP), 18 Sarpanch and 200 Ward Member positions, sources added.
“SwabhimanAnchal has seen lot of development activities. #Odisha has sanctioned special package. These have yielded great results. Huge voter turnout is a #ThumbsUp for the administration. Well done @spmalkangiri @dm_malkangiri @BSFODISHA Thank you @CMO_Odisha @DGPOdisha,” Odisha IGP(Operations) , Amitabh Thakur tweeted @AMITABHTHAKUR21.
