KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, May 14: Polling was held peacefully for the first phase of Panchayat elections at four blocks in the Ghatshila sub-division of the East Singhbhum district on Saturday.
The blocks where the polling was conducted in the three-tier Panchayat elections were Ghatshila, Dumariya, Mosabani and Ghurabandha, all having a distance ranging from 45 km to 85 km from here.
The polling started at 7 am to continue till 3 pm, but the rural electorates filled with so much enthusiasm that they were seen standing on ques braving the scorching sun till the last hours.
The participation of female voters was impressive in comparison to their male counterparts. Many of the women were seen standing in long queues, clutching infants in their laps as the serpentine queue was moving at a comparatively slow pace.
“The ballot paper was a bit small in size. It was difficult to find out the name of the candidate of my choice. The ballot paper being comparatively small, I had to devote more time like many others in casting the vote, ” said Ramesh Chandra Majhi who had turned up at one of the polling booths in Mosabani block.
District Panchayat Raj Officer, Rajni Kant Mishra said polling in the first phase was held in 682 polling booths spread over the four blocks today.
“The polling was completely peaceful. No untoward incident was reported from any part of the four blocks. The security arrangements were up to the mark for the polling, ” said Mishra who visited a large number of polling booths for ensuring a fair and peaceful election.
