Nearly 15 others were injured in the clash between the police and the agitators, who were protesting against the State Election Commission’s decision to postpone the panchayat polls in the areas under the Rabha-Hajong Autonomous District Council (RHAC).  The injured include seven policemen. “They (the protesters) resorted to arson in the nearby residential areas, stormed into the local police station and assaulted the Officer-in-Charge,” Mr Pathak told Deccan Herald.

The district’s Deputy Commissioner U Sharma said in the evening that indefinite curfew had been imposed in and around Lakhimpur to prevent a fresh flare-up. The situation was tense but under control. The contentious issue of panchayat polls in the RHAC areas has been keeping the district on the boil over the last few weeks.

The Rabhas and Hajongs, the two dominant tribes of the district, had opposed the State Government’s plan to hold panchayat polls in the RHAC areas. The social organisations of the two ethnic communities had argued that the Centre and State Government should  upgrade the RHAC to the status granted under the Constitution’s Sixth Schedule.