LIVE | Lok Sabha polls: 58.34% turnout till 5 pm; violence rocks Bengal
70-year-old dies at UP booth
A 70-year-old man died at a polling booth in UP’s Ballia on Saturday.
Sikandarpur Subdivisional Magistrate Ravi Kumar said Rambachan Chauhan (70), a resident of Chak Bahuddin village, had gone to vote at booth number 257 of the village’s primary school under Salempur Lok Sabha constituency.
Before joining the queue of voters, he suddenly fell unconscious and died, he added.
However, the villagers said Chauhan felt dizzy while standing in the voters’ queue and fell unconscious.
BJP’s Sita Soren alleges irregularities, demands re-poll in Dumka
BJP candidate from Jharkhand’s Dumka Lok Sabha seat, Sita Soren, on Saturday alleged irregularities in the voting process and demanded re-polling in the constituency.
Sita, the sister-in-law of jailed former chief minister Hemant Soren, claimed that the voting process was being intentionally delayed.
“I have visited several booths in Dumka urban and found irregularities. I have informed the deputy commissioner in this regard. Inexperienced booth level officers (BLOs) have been deployed due to which electors are facing trouble,” Sita said.
She alleged, “The delay is being done deliberately. I will write to Election Commission to cancel the voting here and conduct a re-poll.” Sita raised the issue after receiving complaints from voters about delays at booth numbers 44 and 45.
Sita, a three-time JMM MLA, joined the BJP on March 20, citing “isolation” and “neglect” by the JMM since the death of her husband, Durga Soren, in 2009.
CEO K Ravi Kumar denied her allegations and said polling is underway smoothly across three Lok Sabha constituencies — Dumka, Rajmahal and Godda.