Tenth phase of Panchayat elections passes peacefully

Patna, Jun 11 (UNI) Barring some minor incidents, the tenth and the final phase of Panchayat elections in Bihar passed off peacefully today with an estimated 60 per cent voters turning out to exercise their franchise.

This phase covered 449 Gram Panchayats under 28 block areas in 20 districts of the state.

State Inspector General of Police (headquarters) A.K.Sinha told mediapersons here that one person was injured in a group clash at Laluadih village under Harnaut block area of Nalanda distict.

He said altogether 496 people were arrested from different places on charges of disturbing the poll process. He said that Banka distict accounted the highest number of 177 arrests. A country made pistol, 46 vehicles, two mobile phones and Rs. 83,000 in cash were recovered during the polling.

Expressing satisfaction over the comparatively peaceful conclusion of the Panchayat election in the state, Mr Sinha said that 90 people had lost their lives in the sixth phased Panchayat election in 2001 in comparision to the loss of only 16 lives in this years Panchayat election. He said that maximum number of deaths were recorded in the first phase followed by four in the second phase and two in the third phase while the rest seven phases reported no death in the 2006 Panchayat elections. He said that the first three phases recored the highest number of casualties due to the late arrival of the jawans of the Central Para Military Forces.

Meanwhile, Panchayat elections in the extremist dominated blocks of Dumaria and Imamaganj had been deferred by the state election commmission which consented to the state government's request for postponing the election in view of the security threat. The election would be held under these blocks on June 13 and June 15 respectively.

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