Polling official dies as SUV rams into tree in Chhattisgarh

A polling official was killed and four others were injured Monday after an SUV carrying officials who were on election duty, crashed into a roadside tree in Chhattisgarh's Balrampur district, police said.

The incident occurred around 1 pm near Karamdiha village when a four-member polling team was headed towards Koti village from Ramanujganj district headquarters, a local police official said.

The district falls under the Surguja (ST) Lok Sabha constituency which will go to polls Tuesday along with six other seats in the third and final phase.

"The polling team was posted at polling station no.51 in Koti village. Just ahead of Karamdiha village, the driver of the SUV lost his control over the vehicle, which skidded off the road and rammed into a roadside tree," he said.

A police team reached the spot and shifted the injured persons to hospital in Wadrafnagar town from where they were referred to Medical College Hospital in Ambikapur town.

The deceased has been identified as polling officer III Ganesh Ram (35), while the injured as presiding officer Suresh Parsad Gupta (36), polling officer I Ashol Kujur, polling officer II Rajesh Bada (34) and driver Vinod Manjhi, the official said.

Ram, a native of Shankargarh area in the district, was working as a government school teacher.

A case has been registered.