Udaipur: Stone-pelting and arson broke out at the vote-counting centre of Navaghara gram panchayat, under the Kherwara Panchayat Samiti in Rajasthan's Udaipur district, late on Thursday night after results of the third phase of the Panchayati Raj elections were declared, according to reports on Friday and Saturday.

Source: The Times of India

According to local accounts reported by Nation Press, trouble erupted at around 11:30 pm after Pushpa Devi was declared the winning sarpanch candidate. Supporters of the defeated candidate allegedly turned violent as Devi was being escorted from the counting centre towards her residence — they allegedly hurled stones at the counting site, set property on fire and vandalised several vehicles parked on the premises.

Source: Nation Press

Police teams from Bawalwada rushed to the spot and restored order, while fire brigade personnel were deployed to douse the flames. No injuries were officially confirmed in the initial reports, and there was no immediate official word on arrests or a case being registered in connection with the violence.

The violence came at the end of a heavy polling day across Rajasthan. Around 85 per cent of the more than 1.06 crore eligible voters exercised their franchise across 27 districts on Thursday in the third-phase elections for 3,716 sarpanch and 34,218 ward panch posts, with results declared late on Thursday night.

Polling for the post of up-sarpanch (deputy village head) followed on Friday as part of the same phase, while Panchayat Samiti results are scheduled to be declared on November 20. The Navaghara incident was the second outbreak of violence linked to this phase — a clash between rival candidates' supporters in Jhunjhunu district earlier in the week left a youth dead, in a case reported separately.