Jajpur: Severe lapse in the security arrangements surfaced Sunday during the third phase polls after two ballot boxes were looted while a BDO was assaulted in two separate incidents here in the district.
The first incident was reported from Booth No-4 and 6 of a polling station in Bachhala panchayat under Binjharpur block of Jajpur.
A source said, as many as four miscreants allegedly barged into the booths and escaped with two ballot boxes at around 9.30am. Later, the miscreants threw the two boxes in a nearby pond.
Palpable tension prevailed in the area following the incident. Hundreds of local villagers strongly resented and demanded arrest of the four wrongdoers who are allegedly involved in the ballot box loot incident.
Meanwhile, voting process at the booth has been ceased.
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In the second incident Sunday morning, voting for the third phase rural polls was disrupted at Booth No-8, 9, 10 and 11 in Soti village of Jajpur after many voters made severe allegations of booth rigging.
On being informed about the incident, Korei BDO rushed to the spot. However, he was allegedly assaulted by some irate locals in front of a polling booth at Soti village under Goleipur panchayat in Jajpur.
Besides, three scribes of an electronic media, who had gone to cover the alleged incident of ballot box loot from two booths at Bachhala panchayat under Binjharpur block, have been severely assaulted by a number of unidentified miscreants.
Irked locals intercepted the journalists identified as Debashis Sahu, Gulshan Ali Nawaz and Bijay Sahoo and thrashed them. The vehicles of the journalists were also ransacked by the group of mob.
It is pertinent to mention here that voting for the third phase of three-tier rural polls is presently underway in as many as 63 blocks of 29 districts for 171 Zilla Parishad (ZP) zones and 1,382 Gram Panchayats (GPs) along with 18,495 Wards.
Four journalists were assaulted February 16 by some miscreants who were capturing a booth by force, during the first phase of voting for the rural polls at Badal panchayat under Kanas block in Puri.
In protest against the earlier alleged attack on four scribes, several journalists had staged a sit-in in front of Gadisagada police station demanding immediate action against the miscreants. Later, eight people were arrested for their involvement in the incident.
PNN