Taking serious note of a news item that an election official at Lohardaga counted votes and announced results soon after polling hours on April 26, the state’s Chief Electoral Officer today asked for a detailed report on the matter.Jharkhand Chief Electoral Officer A.K. Pandey asked the returning officer of Lohardaga, Siyaram Prasad Sinha, to send a detailed report on presiding officer Bhutka Oraon of booth 51 at Barhi Primary School in Sneha block who allegedly counted and announced the results for the booth.The seat is being contested by former additional director-general of police Rameswar Oraon of the Congress and sitting BJP MP Dukha Bhagar.The data provided by the CEO’s office also show that people voted in large numbers in the Naxalite-infested constituencies of Palamau and Lohardaga, despite a poll-boycott call by the ultras.A day before polls, the residents of Viru village in Lohardaga had found a notice pasted on their walls: ‘‘Jo vote dega, usko upar se cheh inch chota kar dega (Those who vote will lose their heads)”. However, the data supplied by Pandey on Tuesday showed the area registered 55 per cent polling. Naxalites had put up such posters in several villages of Lohardaga and Palamau where turnout was between 20 pc and 55 pc.Police officials say the Naxalite threat did have a ‘‘terrible effect’’ on the villagers. ‘‘Nobody was ready to vote out of fear of getting lynched by ultras. We removed the posters and persuaded them to vote,’’ says a police officer of Lohardaga.The BJP state unit claims at least 207 of its office-bearers from Garu, Barwadih, Manika and Latehar blocks in these constituencies have resigned in the past two days. ‘‘They have done so not out of choice but just to save their lives,’’ says BJP state unit general secretary L.R.N. Shahdeo.
