BIRGUNJ, May 13: A clash broke out at Mirzapur polling station of Chhipaharmai Rural Municipality-1 in Parsa district this afternoon.
According to locals, police fired about a dozen rounds of aerial shots to control the situation. "Police had to fire a few rounds in the air to bring the situation under control. But it is yet to be known how many rounds of bullets were fired,” said Parsa Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Om Prakash Khanal. “The situation has now been brought under control and voting has already resumed,” he said.
Voting postponed at four polling centers in Kavre
Locals said that at least three people were injured in the clash that broke out between the supporters of CPN-UML mayoral candidate Manoj Gupta and Nepali Congress (NC) mayoral candidate Navin Singh.
Similarly, a dispute broke out at a polling station in Chergaha of Chipaharmai Rural Municipality-2 in the morning. According to the locals, tensions have grown again in the region since midday. Some supporters of Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) have accused CPN-UML candidate Gupta of assaulting their party’s candidate.
A fight had broken out between the supporters of UML candidate Gupta and JSP candidate Dhurandar Shah Kanu even before the voting started. Locals say that Kanu was injured in the fight that took place at 1 AM earlier in the morning.
According to police, voting has been carried out in a peaceful manner in all 137 polling centers in the district. Security has been beefed up in Chipaharmai, a western village bordering India, following the clashes. The place was not listed as a ‘sensitive’ area by the police.