Irate villagers ransack polling booth in Hanur, pelt stones

• Tahsildar, Police Inspector, Cops and villagers injured in incident
• Election Commission likely to order for re-polling, says Chamarajanagar DC

Hanur: A section of villagers who had boycotted to vote in Chamarajanagar (SC Reserve) Lok Sabha Constituency that went to polling in the first phase of elections held yesterday, went on a rampage, damaging the polling booth at Indiganaththa village in the fringes of Male Mahadeshwara Hills forest in Hanur taluk of Chamarajanagar district.

The angry villagers ransacked Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), door of the polling booth and furniture inside, besides indulging in stone pelting, injuring Tahsildar Guruprasad, MM Hills Police Station Inspector Jagadish, District Armed Reserve (DAR) Policemen and villagers identified as Shivakumar, Mahadevaiah, Sannamma and others in the melee.

The Police took to lathi charge to disperse the crowd and brought the situation under control after sometime.

The villagers of Indiganaththa, Thekane, Mandare, Tulsikere and Padasalanaththa had announced to boycott the Lok Sabha elections, in protest against depriving them of basic amenities like road, drinking water and power supply among others.

As they appeared adamant staying away from voting till 1 pm, the officials made efforts to convince them and majority of them refused to budge, except for a few of the villagers in Maldare who relented and agreed to take part in the electoral process.

As Maldare villagers went to vote, the other villagers took exception to their move and engaged in a verbal duel, that later took a violent turn, it is said.

Deputy Commissioner and District Electoral Officer (DEO) Shilpa Nag said: “It is most likely that Election Commission may order for re-polling at Indiganaththa village. Following the violence, a report has been submitted to EC. The villagers had submitted a memorandum demanding road, electricity and drinking water facilities to their villages. The villages collectively have 550 voters who had decided to refrain from voting. However, following the efforts of officials, 20 residents of Maldare had agreed to vote, during which time there was a heated exchange of words between two groups.”

DC Shilpa Nag further stated that “The stones were hurled targeting Police and polling staff and a case has been registered with further action taken in this regard. A report along with First Information Report (FIR) copy has been submitted to Election Commission of India (ECI).”