Chomu (Jaipur), October 24 — Violence broke out during vote counting at Morija gram panchayat in the Chomu area of Jaipur district on Saturday night, leaving an additional superintendent of police injured and eight people detained, after a crowd pelted police personnel with stones and officers used a lathi-charge to disperse them, The Times of India reported from Jaipur.

Source: The Times of India (Jaipur) via Visit in Rajasthan

According to police, a polling agent allegedly spread a rumour that ballot boxes were being replaced, prompting villagers to gather at the counting venue. The crowd later turned on the police personnel posted there. This is the police account of how the incident began; the allegation against the polling agent has not been established.

Source: Urban Acres

Police teams from Samod and nearby areas were rushed to Morija, and officials said the situation was brought under control. Counting was expected to continue under close administrative supervision, the reports said.

Counting followed a high-turnout ballot-paper vote

The violence came at the counting stage of the first phase of Rajasthan's panchayat elections, held on Saturday across 16 districts for 3,314 sarpanch and 28,682 ward panch posts. Voting was held on paper ballots, with each voter casting two votes — one for sarpanch and one for ward panch — and counting began soon after polling ended, with ward panch votes counted first and results expected late on Saturday night, Urban Acres reported.

Source: Urban Acres

State Election Commissioner Rajeshwar Singh had visited polling booths in five gram panchayats under the Chomu panchayat samiti and two under the Govindgarh panchayat samiti during the day to review arrangements, the report said. Officials described the Morija incident as the most serious reported in the phase.