BERHAMPUR: In yet another instance of pre-poll violence in politically-sensitive Ganjam district, miscreants set fire to a house near the sea in Patisunapur village under Chikiti block, destroying around Rs 30 lakh worth of fishing nets stacked there.
Villagers said as soon as they spotted the fire, they raised an alarm and informed firefighters who rushed to the spot. But by then, the entire house and nets were razed.
Touted to be a fallout of a dispute over candidature between two warring groups of the ruling BJD, sources said, while the village committee fielded candidates of its choice, ruling party leaders chose their own, resulting in a conflict.
On Sunday, villagers W Jalayya, W Lingaraju, G Krishna, W Gopinath and R Balaram submitted a written complaint at Sunapur marine police in the connection. They named some of the culprits behind the act besides alleging that the miscreants have threatened to set more houses on fire and kill those who disobey them. Police reached the spot on Sunday evening and initiated an investigation into the matter.
Political violence is not new to Ganjam. A week back, the vehicle of Bishnupriya Sahu, a BJD sarpanch nominee, was set afire in Goudagaon village within K Nuagaon police limits, destroying all poll materials including posters, sound box and mic.
In the last panchayat elections in 2017, four persons were killed and over a 100 sustained injuries in poll-related clashes. Bulu Pradhan, the sarpanch candidate of Bramhanachai panchayat in Seragada block was also killed that year.
To avoid the recurrence of political violence during the rural polls this year, the district police issued notices under sections 107 and 110 of the CrPC to over 10,000 anti-socials across the jurisdiction of 23 police stations. However, it has failed to give the desired result.
There are 24,43,616 voters in Ganjam who will elect 7,099 ward members, 503 sarpanchs and samiti members by exercising their franchise in 7,099 polling centres.
Sarpanch candidates face heckling, assault
Stray incidents of violence marred the final leg of campaigning in Jagatsinghpur on Saturday. Sarpanch candidate of Tulang panchayat Nibedita Mallik and her supporters were allegedly heckled by another candidate Rabindra Raul when she was busy campaigning door-to-door in Naul village. Raul, accompanied by 40 supporters, restricted her movement besides allegedly misbehaving and threatening to kill her by brandishing a gun. Panicked, Mallik fled the spot and later filed an FIR in Tirtol police station but no arrests have been made yet. Likewise, sarpanch candidate of Balia panchayat Sarojini Nayak and her husband Prakash Nayak engaged in a scuffle with rival groups while campaigning, leaving Prakash seriously injured.
He later filed an FIR in Kujang police station and a case was registered. While five candidates are trying their luck for the sarpanch post in Tulang, there are six in Balia panchayats. Similar clashes were reported in Bhajakhia village of Goda panchayat under Erasama block where villagers were being forced by one Ranjan Das to cast their vote for a ward member candidate with symbol ‘bullock cart’. After receiving an FIR in the matter, a case was registered and Das arrested, said IIC of Erasama police station Bhabagrahi Rout.