By IANS
Bhubaneswar : A by-election to the Laxmipur assembly seat in Orissa ended peacefully Saturday even as few villages boycotted the polling over local issues, an election official said.
The polling in the constituency spread over the districts of Koraput and Rayagada, some 500 km from here, started in the morning, a district election official said.
The Maoists, who are active in some areas of the constituency, had earlier given a call to the people not to exercise their franchise. But no untoward incident was reported, he said.
“It ended peacefully although residents of about 11 villages boycotted the poll demanding solutions to some of their local problems,” he said.
Hundreds of people including women from different villages exercised their franchise. The polling was near about 65 percent, the official added.
The seat fell vacant after the death of Congress legislator Anantaram Majhi Nov 24 last year.
Although five candidates are contesting the election, political observers say the main fight is between the Congress and the ruling Biju Janata Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJD-BJP) coalition headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The Congress has fielded Purnachandra Majhi, son of Majhi. BJD, backed by BJP, has fielded Bibhisan Majhi – a former legislator from the area.