Belthangady: Delay in completion of the work of booth-level officers at a polling booth in Charmady late Wednesday night gave rise to tension in the area, resulting in the police lathi charging to disperse the crowd, some of whom suspected the reasons for the officers’ delay.

The polling process was delayed at the Charmady booth and continued till around 7.20 pm. The officers, however, did not close the work past 10.30 pm.

In addition to the delay at one booth, the EVMs were not cleared from any of the booths in Charmady Panchayat limits. There was also a power cut in the area.

Expressing their suspicion regarding the reason for the delay by the officials and for the power cut, Congress activists, who gathered outside the booth in hundreds, raised a hue. Alleging that illegal activities related to the election process were being carried out in the area, the activists blocked the officials’ vehicles, declaring that they would not let the officials leave the booths without giving a satisfactory explanation.

The BJP activists, on learning of the incident, arrived at the spot, which gave rise to further tension.

The Special Police Force team, which came there, dispersed the crowd by lathi charging the activists.

Congress candidate Rakshit Shivaram and other leaders of the party came to the booth area, after which, special travel facilities were provided to the booth officials and the police staff members to travel to Ujire.

The officials said that the delay in closure of the booth was cause by the problems they had in packing the EVMs.

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Lucknow (PTI): Kolkata Knight Riders edged Lucknow Super Giants via Super Overs in a battle between two bottom-placed teams in the IPL, here on Sunday.

Chasing a modest 156, LSG suffered a batting collapse and managed to tie the contest and take it to Super Over with No. 9 Mohammed Shami striking a last-ball six against a wayward Kartik Tyagi, who leaked 16 runs in the final over.

But Sunil Narine bowled a stunning Super Over conceding just one run and taking two wickets to give KKR an easy target.

Rinku Singh then finished the chase with a boundary off first ball from Prince Yadav.

Earlier the KKR were in deep trouble with 93/7 in 15 overs but Rinku smashed a sensational 83 not out from 51 balls including four sixes in a row in the final over to lift them to 155/7.

Cameron Green (34) was the only other batter to reach double-digit scores as KKR suffered a familiar batting meltdown with Mohsin taking his maiden fifer.

In reply, LSG continued their dismal show with the bat to succumb to their fifth loss in a row.

Brief Scores:

Kolkata Knight Riders 155/7; 20 overs (Rinku Singh 83 not out, Cameron Green 34; Mohsin Khan 5/23). Lucknow Super Giants 155/8; 20 overs (Rishabh Pant 42). KKR won via Super Over.