Berhampur: A group of people in Ganjam district Wednesday confined a block development officer (BDO) for several hours demanding inclusion of their names in the voters’ list and re-polling in a booth for the panchayat elections, an official said.
Around 100 people of Ambagam village in Tumba panchayat had failed to cast their votes in the third phase of panchayat elections on February 20 as their names did not feature in the voter list.
They had held election officials captive, along with the ballot box, for over five hours that day, demanding voter identity cards and re-polling in their booth as they failed to vote.
On Wednesday, they confined Patrapur BDO Prakash Chandra Das in the village when he was returning after inspecting some work at a school in Tumba, the official said.
The Berhampur sub-collector, security personnel and other officials rushed to the village and persuaded the villagers to release the BDO.
The villagers apprehend that they would be deprived of welfare schemes, including ration, due to the lack of voter cards.
District Rural Development Agency project director Shinde Dattatraya Bhausaheb said that action would be taken against those who instigated the tribal people to resort to such type of agitation.
“The police are investigating the matter and trying to identify the culprits,” he said.
PTI
