Panchayat polls postponed in Karnataka's Kalaburagi district over wrong symbol

At K Tuppadoor village of Sirwar taluk in Raichur district repolling was held after a couple of hours because of wrong printing and confusion over the symbol allotted to a candidate.
Jayaraj Halagi shows the returning officer the wrong symbol on the ballot paper against his name, in Kalaburagi on Tuesday. (Photo| EPS)
Jayaraj Halagi shows the returning officer the wrong symbol on the ballot paper against his name, in Kalaburagi on Tuesday. (Photo| EPS)

KALABURAGI: Elections were postponed at Ward No 1 of Kinni Sadak village and halted for a few minutes at Ward No 2 of Srichand village, both from the Kamalapur taluk in the first phase of Gram Panchayat elections on Tuesday.

At K Tuppadoor village of Sirwar taluk in Raichur district repolling was held after a couple of hours because of wrong printing and confusion over the symbol allotted to a candidate.

Kamalapur Tahsildar Ramesh Pedde told The New Indian Express that the date of repolling at Kinni Sadak ward will be announced shortly. One of the candidates, Jayaraj Halage, noticed the change of symbol allotted to him in the ballot paper and brought it to the notice of the returning officer. 

Jayaraj told the officer that he was allotted the trumpet symbol, but on the ballot paper, it was a man blowing a bugle against his name, causing confusion among voters. He said that the polling was stopped immediately and a report was sent to the Kalaburagi Deputy Commissioner.

At ward No 2 of Srichand village of the same taluk, the polling was stopped for a few minutes as candidate Gajanand Dattaprasad complained that though he was allotted the symbol of paste, the ballot paper had brush and paste. The tahsildar said that after verifying the records, it was found that the symbol printed on the ballot paper was correct and polling continued.

Raichur Assistant Commissioner Santosh Kamegowda said that at K Tuppadoor village under Ganadinni Gram Panchayat in Sirawar taluk, Siddamma was allotted the symbol of mud pot, but the ballot paper had the auto symbol. The ballot papers were reprinted and the polling commenced after two hours.   

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