ONE KILLED IN POST-POLL VIOLENCE IN GANJAM
Bureau,Odishabarta
Bhubaneswar: One person has been killed and three others injured in post-panchayat poll violence in Ganjam district, even as ruling BJD and Opposition BJP engaged in a war of words over comparing the State with neighbouring West Bengal on political violence.
The man who lost his life to post-panchayat poll violence in Aska block of Ganjam on Saturday has been identified as Bulu Swain, police said, adding that the injured people are undergoing treatment in hospitals.
BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra alleged that Odisha was going the West Bengal way in terms of election violence. “No election violence took place even as BJP comfortably won four Assembly elections this week. However, hundreds of our party workers have been killed in West Bengal in poll violence. Odisha, which was earlier peaceful, has of late also witnessed political violence under the BJD regime,” he told reporters.
Political intolerance was the reason behind poll violence in the two eastern States, he said. Dismissing his allegation, BJD’s Rajya Sabha member Amar Patnaik claimed that panchayat elections were by and large peaceful barring some sporadic incidents of violence. “Odisha was going the West Bengal way in terms of political violence is an insult to the people of our State,” he said.
Earlier, several incidents of poll violence were reported in Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s home district Ganjam.
Meanwhile, 10 people have been detained for questioning in connection with an attack on the family members of Dharitri Jena, BJP candidate for Ward Number 33 of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, on Friday night in which five people were critically injured. The urban local body elections in the State are scheduled to be held on March 24.
“After analysing CCTV footage and mobile phone videos recorded by some people present on the spot, and recording statements of eye-witnesses, we have detained 10 people. The identification process is underway, and after a detailed verification, the culprits will be arrested,” Bhubaneswar DCP Umashankar Dash said.
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