Bhubaneswar: The third phase of Panchayat elections in Odisha on Sunday was again marred by sporadic incidents of violence and this time too, journalists faced the wrath of miscreants. Police personnel were also not spared.
Three journalists of electronic media were allegedly thrashed by locals while covering a rigging attempt at two booths in Bachol panchayat under Binjharpur block of Jajpur district.
The journalists, identified as Debashis Sahoo, Gulshan Ali Nawaz and Bijay Sahoo, reached the booths following reports that miscreants had decamped with ballot boxes from the two booths and thrown them at a nearby pond.
However, they were intercepted by a mob, which tied them up and assaulted them brutally. They also damaged their vehicle by pelting it with stones. Police later rescued the injured journalists and sent them to Binjharpur CHC for treatment.
Odisha Sambad reporter Himansu Padhi was also beaten up in the attack on the scribes in Jajpur.
Notably, four journalists of local TV channels were allegedly attacked at a booth in Badala gram panchayat under Kanas block in Puri district during the first phase of the elections on February 16.
Following these incidents, a team of journalists moved State Election Commission and demanded stern action and arrest of all accused by this evening.
Sunday also saw Korei BDO, who dashed to Soti village under Goleipur panchayat after receiving information regarding irregularities in the polling process, being assaulted near a polling booth. Following this, voting at the booth was stopped for some time.
Two police personnel were injured, when two groups clashed over over allegation of booth rigging, at Jari Panchayat under Bijharpur Block in the same district
A similar incident was reported from Kendrapada district too. Tension erupted at Gokhani ward no 3 under Dera Panchayat after a person, whose name did not figure in the voter list, was made an agent in the booth. Some voters expressed outrage over such irregularity disrupting the voting and attacked police personnel with a plastic pipe when the latter tried to resolve the matter.
Police have arrested 28 persons in Jajpur, 6 in Dhenkanal district, 5 in Jagatsinghpur district and 23 in Puri district in connection with poll disruption incidents during the first two phases of elections.
Meanwhile, in Rayagada, security forces seized an explosive planted at a bridge near the Niyamgiri hill this morning. It is suspected that the explosive was planted by the Maoist to target the security forces and disrupt the election process.
Sources further said that women belonging to Dongria Kandh tribe allegedly looted a ballot box from a polling booth at Railima village under Kalyansinghpur block in the district after finding names of hundred villagers of Upara and Tala Musudi areas missing from voters’ list
The voting for the third phase was held in 63 blocks of 29 districts for 171 Zilla Parishad (ZP) zones and 1,382 Gram Panchayats (GPs) having 18,495 Wards.
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