Paradip, Oct. 29: At least three persons were injured, one of them seriously, at Krishnanandapur village in Jagatsinghpur district today when a firecracker exploded during the Jana Sampark rally organised by BJD's Tirtol block unit.

The rally was being held under the stewardship of Tirtol MLA Rajashri Mallik. The explosion occurred around 9.45am when local BJD workers were bursting firecrakers to add sparkle to the political rally.

A stampede followed the sudden explosions as panic-stricken BJD workers started running helter-skelter, mistaking the explosions to be a major fire mishap.

"The injured persons are all BJD supporters. Chhagala Rout, 40, suffered serious injuries and has been taken to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack," said inspector in charge of Tirtol police station Ashutosh Mishra.

"We are verifying whether the organisers of the rally had obtained permission from the district administration to use fireworks. Chemical substances that are explosive in nature have been recovered from the site and have been sent for forensic tests. A case under Section 9 (B) of the Indian Explosives Act and Section 34 of Explosive Substances Rules has been registered," said Mishra.

In another similar incident, four people had died.

On November 16, 2012, an accident involving use of firecrackers had occurred during a political rally in Kujang in Jagatsinghpur district, which claimed four lives and injured an equal number of persons.

The police had then registered a case against the then Kujang MLA Debashis Samantaray, who headed the political rally.

The cops had later found that no permission had been taken to proceed with the rally and burst firecrackers.

The rally organised by a trade union named after Biju Pattnaik had generated intense political heat and had laid bare intra-party wrangling within the BJD.