Panchayat elections in Orissa end peacefully

Bhubaneswar, Feb 21 (UNI) The fifth and final phase of the Panchayat elections in Orissa ended peacefully today barring some stray incidents of violence in some booths in four districts.

With this, the fate of 854 Zilla Parishad members, 6234 Panchayat Samitie members, 6234 Sarpanches and 87542 Ward members has been sealed.

State Election Commission (SEC) sources said over 75 per cent of voters today exercised their franchise to elect 87 Zilla Parishad members, 701 Panchayat samiti members, 706 Sarpanches and 8458 Ward members.

The final phase of polling was by and large peaceful except for some stray incidents of rigging and poll violence reported in Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Ganjam and Gajapati districts forcing the SEC to order repolling in 30 booths.

The model code of conduct imposed in the state since December 26 for the poll was also withdrawn from today.

The result of the winning candidates for the Ward members and Sarpanches would be declared on February 22 and that of Panchayat samiti members and Zilla Parishad members on February 23.

However, the elections of the Chairman to the Panchayat Samitis would be taken up on March 11 and the President to the Zilla Parishad would be held on March 13, SEC sources said.

UNI