Voter checklist omission: Angry villagers take BDO hostage
By Express News Service
BERHAMPUR: Incensed over not having the ability to take part in election because of lacking names within the voters’ checklist, villagers of Dhadiamba underneath Tumba panchayat in Ganjam took the block improvement officer (BDO) of Patrapur hostage on Wednesday.
BDO Prakash Das had gone to Tumba to examine the varsity transformation programme when he was forcibly taken to a close-by place by aggrieved villagers and held hostage there for almost two hours.
On being knowledgeable, Berhampur Sub-Collector V Keerthi Vasan together with sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Chikiti Krushna Chandra Bhatra and Jarada police reached the spot and rescued the BDO from the clutches of irate villagers. Vasan assured the villagers that their grievance has already been positioned earlier than State Election Commission.
Incidentally, the villagers of Dhadiamba had detained a polling occasion with the poll field after being unable to vote within the third part of the panchayat elections on Sunday. Sources stated names of over 100 voters of Dhadiamba have been lacking from the electoral roll. The villagers had even requested the district administration to make some alternate preparations for them to vote however to no avail. Holding the BDO chargeable for their plight, the villagers held him hostage.
In one other poll-related incident, two zilla parishad (ZP) candidates of BJP fell on the ft of Khallikote BDO requesting ample safety exterior sturdy rooms the place poll containers are being stored. The video of this incident went viral on social media.
The two ZP candidates, Jagyanarayan Das from zone 11 and Ramachandra Baidya from zone 13, appealed to the BDO to strengthen the safety at sturdy rooms. They alleged that the prevailing safety preparations put in place weren’t enough to maintain the poll containers protected. Following the attraction, extra CCTV cameras have been put in on the sturdy rooms and safety measures enhanced.
Meanwhile, Aska, Bhanjanagar and Beguniapada blocks in Ganjam will go to polls within the remaining part on Thursday. As many as 3,42,809 voters of 72 panchayats train their franchise at 1,051 cubicles of which 76 are hypersensitive and 70 delicate.
