Ponda records 65.45 per cent turnout for ZP elections

PONDA: Voting for the zilla panchayat elections in Ponda taluka on Wednesday registered a turnout of 65.45 per cent, even as voters in Karanzale ward in Marcaim village in the Veling-Priol constituency boycotted the polls.
A minor incident was reported outside a polling booth in Parampai in the Veling-Priol constituency, in which a car was damaged and the owner Jaikrishna V Naik, 34, a resident of Parampai-Marcaim was manhandled.
Four hundred voters from Karanzale boycotted the polling. On Sunday, they had threatened to boycott the elections over the inundation of village khazan land for pisciculture. Although the Ponda sub-divisional officer had released the blocked water by opening the sluice gate doors on Monday, the angry locals were not satisfied with the measure. They boycotted the polling, said Sankalp Phadte, a villager. Parampai, in the Veling-Priol constituency, witnessed a small brawl outside the polling booth. In the incident a group of people allegedly damaged the windscreen of a car with an axe.
A case in this regard was registered at the Ponda police station later in the evening. Jaikrishna V Naik has complained to the police that five persons blocked his car after he cast his vote.
Later, a source revealed that the incident took place as a result of previous enmity and was not related to the elections.