Bihar panchayat polls: Villagers halt voting for hours over two killings

The 11th and the final phase elections of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) was held up for about four hours on Sunday to protest the killing of two persons, including a candidate who was contesting for the post of ward member in the elections, said police

The 11th and the final phase elections of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) was held up for about four hours on Sunday to protest the killing of two persons, including a candidate who was contesting for the post of ward member in the elections, said police.

Voters standing in queue to cast their votes at a polling booth at Danapur in Patna during the last phase of the Panchayat election on Sunday. (Santosh Kumar/HT photo)

Irate villagers blocked the a Alamnagar-Madhepura road, demanding immediate arrest of the culprits and also called for the elections to be deferred. However, police and local administration were able to persuade the agitators and voting started at around 11 am. Later, the bodies were sent to Madhepura Sadar hospital for postmortem.

On Saturday night, supporters of two candidates contesting for the post of mukhiya, clashed with each other resulting in a shootout at Ward number 7 of Bargaon panchayat under Ratwara police station in Madepura, police said. The deceased have been identified as Brij Mohan Patel (32) and Nathuni Sharma(45) while one person, identified as Chhotu Kumar (18) is undergoing treatment at Jan Nayak Karpoori Thakur Medical college and hospital, Madhepura, police added.

According to locals, the husbands of both the women contestants, identified as Ranvijay Kumar(husband of Shanti Devi) and Birendra Singh (husband of Lalita Devi), got into a scuffle at Ward number 7, which turned into violence. Eyewitnesses told police that Birendra Singh fired indiscriminately, which resulted in casualties.

Subdivisional police officer (SDPO) Satish Kumar said the accused have been identified and four persons have been arrested. “Raids are being carried out to arrest Birendra Singh who has been absconding since the incident,” he said. Till the filing the report no FIR has been lodged.