PURI: The first phase polling for the three-tier panchayat elections was marred by incidents of violence including clashes, firing and booth capturing across the State on Wednesday. In coastal Puri, 50 persons were injured in a clash between BJD and BJP workers during polling in Krushnaprasad, the island block in Chilika lake. Sources said voters of Tichhini were waiting in queues at booth no-4 to exercise their franchise when a group of villagers of Alanda attacked them. A pitched battle ensued which resulted in injuries to warring members of both the groups.
The critically injured persons have been admitted to the district headquarters hospital. As tension is simmering in Alanda and Tichhini, police force has been deployed in both the villages to avert any further flare-ups. In a separate incident in Chapamanik village of Brahmagiri block, miscreants barged into booth no-9 and escaped with a ballot box. Similarly, police caught a person while he was disposing of ballot papers in a pond near booth no-10 in Benagaon village under Gadasahi panchayat of Kanas block.
Sub-Collector and panchayat election in-charge of the district Bhabataran Sahu informed that miscreants looted two ballot boxes from as many polling booths. These booths were under CCTV surveillance. Police will identify the miscreants from the camera footage and take action against them.
“Our first priority is to ensure safe return of polling personnel with ballot boxes. Due to the strict measures put in place by the administration, cases of loot of ballot boxes have decreased considerably this time. In the last panchayat elections, a large number of ballot boxes were looted and several incidents of group clashes reported during polling,” Sahu added.