Niyamgiri PRI Polls: Casting Vote After 15 Yrs; Voter List Irregularity, Dongarias Picked-up Ballot Box 

Bhubaneswar, Feb 20: The third phase of the panchayat elections in Odisha ends with many unforeseen and violent incidents in different districts on Sunday. This Panchayat Poll has a special significance for the Dongria Kondh community of Chatikona village under Parasali panchayat of Niyamgiri in Rayagada district.

The tribal community has casted their votes after a gap of 15 years.

The area was under Maoist control for years. The fear-struck villagers are now free of Maoist control and the Tribal feel that the panchayat elections will open the doors to the region’s economic and social development.

Niyamgiri area, comprises 11 wards and has 1,619 voters.

But due to some alleged irregularities in the Voter’s List in Sunakhanda Panchayat of Kalyansing Pur area, the agitated Dongarias have picked up the ballot box. This unforeseen incident has happened in Booth no- 14 of Railima Village under Sunakhanda Panchayat. The villagers are complaining, as many as 100 names of Upper and Lower Musudira village are missing in the voters’ list.

Earlier in the morning on Sunday, a tiffin bomb was recovered by security forces during combing operations and diffused here in Niyamgiri by CRPF.