Jayapur: Amid a long-standing border dispute, voting is underway at Tonam and Saraki booths in Andhra Pradesh for elections in Fatusineri and Neredibalsa of Kotia panchayat, even as tension prevails along the Odisha-Andhra border.
There are allegations that the Andhra side is trying to force voters to cast their votes. It has been reported from specific sources that some people have gone to vote, while the Koraput District Lawyers Association has protested and the Odisha administration is keeping a close eye on the border.
Odisha has deployed more than 16 platoons, each comprising around 30 personnel, across the region. Police have blocked roads, set up three checkpoints and prevented Andhra Pradesh police from entering Kotia.Amid the tension, the Andhra Pradesh government shifted the polling booth at Neridivalasa to Sarika village, on its side of the border, on Thursday night.
Odisha police also stopped voters from crossing the inter-state border. In the past two days, officials from Odisha’s Koraput district and Andhra Pradesh’s Parvathipuram Manyam district have confronted each other at the inter-state border while asserting their respective jurisdictional claims.
