Nabarangpur: The district and session judge of Nabarangpur Rajendra Panigrahi on Tuesday declared the election of the Nabarangpur zila parishad president as null and void and directed the state election commission for fresh election.

Challenging the election of the BJD's Bhagabati Bhotra as the president of zila parishad, the BJP's Baby Majhi, the zila parishad member from Nandahandi block, had approached the court to declare the election as invalid.

"We had approached the court as the secrecy of ballot was not maintained during the election for the post of zila parishad president. While the moral code of conduct was in force, the state government had brought an amendment in the zila parishad code and conducted open ballot election which was illegal," said petitioner counsel Debi Prasad Singh.

"On the day of election, the BJD members had displayed their vote to the party's agent present inside the voting hall prior to putting inside the ballot box. We had challenged this and the court has declared the election as invalid and sought for fresh election," he said.

Out of the 26 zila parishad seats in the district, the BJD has won 11, Congress eight and the BJP had won seven seats. "We will appeal against the verdict in Orissa High Court," said public prosecutor Sachidananda Swain.

Group clash

Four persons were injured when a group clash broke out between the people of four tribal villages in the district over jhika bibaha, a traditional wedding practice that involves forcibly capturing a bride for marriage.