Mahanga: A woman sarpanch and her husband appeared in a local court and were granted bail in a case of allegedly launching a vilification campaign against a rival woman candidate and her kin during the last three-tier panchayat elections, a report said Saturday.
The accused were identified as Swagatika Mohanty, the sarpanch of Chahapada panchayat under this block, and her husband Prakash Rout. She was contesting for the post of sarpanch in the panchayat against Snehalata Nayak during last panchayat elections in February 2017. The couple appeared in the court and got bail.
The couple is accused of violating the model code of conduct and launching a vilification campaign through public address systems against Nayak and her father-in-law Niranjan Biswal, who is a former sarpanch of the panchayat, on the last day of campaigning. Their campaign was found to be baseless, objectionable and derogatory in nature. The couple also released leaflets vilifying Nayak among the voters. Nayak, taking offence to such propaganda, had lodged a complaint with the state election commission and the block election officer. Later, Nayak lodged a complaint against Mohanty with the Mahanga police station February 11. The case came up for hearing at the court of the first class judicial magistrate here, who issued summons against the accused.
PNN
