Bhubaneswar, March 25: Two low intensity crude bombs were hurled near the Congress Bhavan where two groups of students clashed during the election of National Students' Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Congress, on Wednesday.

Some of the students also snatched away ballot papers and set them on fire.

Sources said the election was going on for the posts of NSUI state president, vice-president and general secretary.

The two participants vying for the post of the president did not get along well and therefore their groups, too, didn't see eye to eye.

Eyewitnesses said a group of students was standing in a queue to cast their votes when all of a sudden a brawl broke out. "Members of both the groups hurled stones at each other. Shortly after that two motorcycle-borne youths hurled bombs in front of the party office," said an eyewitness.

Itish Kumar Pradhan, a management student and one of the aspiring presidential candidates, alleged the involvement of his rival group in the incident. "In the first phase, voting of representatives of 14 districts was being conducted today. As the other group was sure of their defeat they attacked us. This was their ploy to call off the election," alleged Pradhan.

He also said five members of his group were injured in the attack.

While the polling for 14 districts was being held today, the voting of representatives from the rest of the 16 districts will be held on March 28.

On the other hand, supporters of the other aspirant Kiran Kumar Sahu accused Pradhan's group of creating trouble. "They attacked us. Sahu has been admitted to a private hospital in a serious condition," said a supporter of the candidate.

The senior members of the party, however, denied the involvement of their student members in the bombing.

"Those who have hurled the bombs are not our party members," said senior party leader Suresh Kumar Routray.

Police said they were yet to receive any formal complaint in this regard. "We have deployed adequate police personnel in front of Congress Bhavan to avoid any untoward incident," said Satyabrata Bhoi, deputy commissioner of police.