On the final day of the world’s largest election, four officials on election duty died in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
In Madhya Pradesh, Garu Singh Chogad, who was deployed at the Jalwat polling booth in Dhar Lok Sabha constituency, died after suffering a heart failure on Sunday morning, according to state Chief Electoral Officer V L Kantha Rao. In another incident, a presiding officer, Anil Nema, in Dewas Lok Sabha seat died of cardiac arrest on Saturday night, he said.
In Gorakhpur district in Uttar Pradesh, Rajaram, 56, suffered a massive heart attack while on polling duty as the presiding officer of booth number 381 at Prathmik Vidhyalay Madhopur in Pipraich. He was rushed to Pipraich community health centre, where he was declared dead, according to assistant election officer J.N. Maurya.
Also in Uttar Pradesh, in the Bansgaon parliamentary constituency, Vinod Srivastav (50), deputed at polling booth number 219, died around midnight from a cardiac attack. He was an employee with the sugarcane department.
Around five million government workers have taken part in the Lok Sabha General Election 2019, with nearly one million polling stations set up across the country. On the final day of polling, over 10.1 crore voters are eligible to vote in 59 constituencies across India.
Sporadic instances of violence belied an otherwise peaceful election. Kantha Rao told reporters that the final day of polling in Madhya Pradesh took place peacefully on Sunday in eight Lok Sabha seats — Dewas, Ujjain, Mandsaur, Ratlam, Dhar, Indore, Khargone and Khandwa.
Earlier, on May 12, a polling officer in Sheohar was severely injured after a home guard’s rifle fired while it was being cleaned. The officer, identified as Shivendra Kishore, succumbed to his injuries at the Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital in Muzaffarpur.
Owing to increased instances of violence in West Bengal, campaigning was curtailed a day earlier than normal on May 16 — the first time the EC had resorted to this measure in India’s electoral history.
Counting of votes will be taken up on May 23.
With inputs from PTI
