Polling booth attacked, EVM set ablaze in Karnataka's Chamarajanagar

Bengaluru, April 27 (IANS) Barring an incident of attack on a polling booth, voting in Karnataka's 14 Lok Sabha seats on Friday was largely peaceful, election officials said.

A mob attacked a polling station at Idiginatha village in Hanur taluk of Chamarajanagar and set an Electronic Voting Machine on fire.

According to the Election Commission, a few villagers outside the polling booth were dissuading anyone who wanted to vote. Taluka officials reached the spot at around 1.30 p.m. and tried to persuade voters to cast their vote.

Meanwhile, the District Tribal Welfare Officer, Circle Inspector and four policemen reached Mandhare, a nearby tribal settlement where voters were willing to vote, but were intimidated by some people in the village. About 20 voters from Mandhare were brought to the polling booth, and nine of them besides the polling personnel had cast votes by 1:50 p.m. when a mob aggravated and started pelting stones at officials and the polling booth.

The mob entered the polling booth, destroyed and burnt some equipment and an EVM machine halting the polling process, officials said.

The incident happened at the polling booth situated in an isolated habitat which can be reached through the forest of Male Mahadeshwara Hills Forest division.

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