75 % turnout in third phase of Odisha Panchayat polls

Bhubaneswar: The third round of Panchayat elections in Odisha ended peacefully today with a 75 per cent turnout across 65 blocks in the state.

"The polling were held in 175 Zilla Parishad seats and for 1,394 gram panchayats and 18,859 wards. Polling was more or less peaceful.

While the highest 86 per cent of voters exercised their democratic rights in Subarnapur district, the lowest 66 per cent votes were polled in Ganjam district," State Election Commissioner Rabinarayan Senapati told reporters.

Senapati said the district Collectors have been asked to submit detailed reports on disruption of polling in some places.

Commission officials said polling was cancelled in two places due to different reasons.

While errors in ballot papers were found in one zone of Lahunipada gram panchayat in Sundergarh district, polling parties were attacked in a zone under Dasarathpur block in Jajpur district, they said.

Reports of poll disruption were received by the SEC from Puri district, while some people boycotted polling in some other places.