Pre-Poll Violence Continues To Rock Rural Odisha A Day Before Panchayat Elections

Basudevpur village under Ganjam’s Digapahandi Block turned into a war zone on Monday afternoon when some armed miscreants, purportedly supporters of a Sarpanch candidate, disrupted the campaign procession of another Sarpanch candidate, Rabi Narayan Padhi before launching an attack.

The fracas left five people including two women seriously injured who are currently undergoing treatment at a nearby hospital.

The Police reached the spot after the attack and a case has been registered at Digapahandi Police station against the miscreants.

Similar scenes emerged from Pipili where the supporters of BJD’s Zilla Parishad candidate, Dharanidhar Sahoo allegedly blocked the Puri-Bhubaneswar Highway at Teisipur protesting an alleged attack on him by rival party supporters.

An ominous night was in store for the family of Durga Beshara, supporter of a Sarpanch candidate in Kumbharagadoi Panchayat under Balasore district, when miscreants torched his house in the middle of the night while his family were asleep.

Though nobody was reportedly hurt in the blaze but property worth laks of Rupees have been gutted.

A different kind of picture emerged from Demala village in Kendrapara where the wall of Brajakeshari Dev Primary School, one of the polling booths in the area, was allegedly demolished by the supporters of a certain Sarpanch candidate in a bid to capture the ballot box tomorrow.

The BDO of Aul, Debendu Das said, “Necessary action will be taken, if I receive credible information about people trying to capture poll booths."

The violence has made all three major political parties in the State start slinging mud on each other.

While the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) accused the Bharatiya Jata Party (BJP) of creating violence fearing defeat in the polls, both BJP and Congress targeted the BJD over the issue.

“These violence are orchestrated by political leaders. And the leaders of the ruling party are mainly involved in this,” alleged Odisha Congress Chief Niranjan Pattnaik.

BJP leader Dillip Mallik said, “A BJD MLA was seen distributing money to the voters in Odisha. So, it seems that the ruling party has been rotten from inside as they are resorting to these kind of unfail practices knowing that their defeat is imminent.”

Similarly, the BJD attacked the BJP over the issue of pre-poll violence. Party spokesperson, Lenin Mohanty said, “The BJP is using the same approach as in other States to create an atmosphere of panic among the voters.”

Earlier on Monday, three youths were admitted to the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) in Keonjhar after they sustained serious injuries in an alleged attack by their political rivals near Joda.

In a similar instance, Pushpita Jena, a Samiti Member candidate from Govindpur Panchayat in Bonai was also allegedly attacked by some unidentified miscreants while returning home from campaigning on Monday.