3rd Phase Panchayat Polls: journalists, BDOs, and cops assaulted, ballot boxes stolen

Bhubaneswar: On Sunday, the third phase of Odisha's Panchayat elections was plagued by intermittent acts of violence, with journalists once again facing the wrath of miscreants. Personnel from the police force were also targeted.

While covering a rigging attempt at two booths in Bachol panchayat, Binjharpur block, Jajpur district, three electronic media journalists were allegedly attacked by locals.

Debashis Sahoo, Gulshan Ali Nawaz, and Bijay Sahoo, journalists, arrived at the polling stations after hearing that miscreants had decamped with ballot boxes from the two booths and dumped them into a nearby pond.

They were, however, apprehended by a mob, who tied them up and viciously attacked them. They also caused damage to their vehicle by throwing stones at it. The injured journalists were then rescued by police and sent to Binjharpur CHC for treatment.

In the attack on the scribes in Jajpur, Odisha Sambad reporter Himansu Padhi was also beaten up.

During the first phase of the elections on February 16, four local TV journalists were allegedly attacked at a booth in Badala gramme panchayat under Kanas block in Puri district.

Following these events, a group of journalists filed a complaint with the State Election Commission, demanding strong action and the arrest of all suspects by this evening.

Korei BDO, who rushed to Soti village under Goleipur panchayat after getting information about vote irregularities, was beaten outside a polling station on Sunday. After that, voting in the booth was halted for a while.

Two police officers were hurt after two groups clashed over allegations of booth rigging in Jari Panchayat in the same district's Bijharpur Block.

Kendrapada district has also reported a similar incidence. Tensions flared in Dera Panchayat's Gokhani ward no 3 after a person whose name did not appear on the voter list was appointed as an agent in the booth. Some voters were enraged that such irregularities were disturbing the voting process, and they attacked police officers with a plastic pipe when they attempted to handle the situation.

In connection with vote disruption incidents during the first two rounds of elections, police detained 28 people in Jajpur, 6 in Dhenkanal district, 5 in Jagatsinghpur district, and 23 in Puri district.

Meanwhile, security forces in Rayagada discovered an explosive on a bridge near the Niyamgiri hill this morning. The Maoists are accused of planting the device to attack security forces and disrupt the election process.

Women from the Dongria Kandh tribe allegedly looted a ballot box from a polling booth in Railima village, Kalyansinghpur block, after seeing the names of hundreds of villagers from the Upara and Tala Musudi districts missing from the voters' list, according to sources.

The third phase of voting took place in 63 blocks across 29 districts for 171 Zilla Parishad (ZP) zones and 1,382 Gram Panchayats (GPs) with 18,495 Wards.