Suspended Biju Janata Dal MLA from Chilika, Prashant Jagdev, was assaulted by a mob on Saturday after his vehicle allegedly ran over and injured at least 22 people in Khurda district of Odisha.

“Around 15 Bharatiya Janata Party workers and seven police personnel were injured,” an unidentified police officer told PTI. “A probe has been initiated into the matter.”

Jagdev’s car allegedly rammed into the crowd that had gathered outside the Banapur Block Development Office for the chairperson elections. According to officials, two people, including Banapur Police Station Inspector-in-Charge RR Sahu, were critically injured in the incident and were admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Bhubaneswar.

Jagdev, who was suspended from his party in October last year for allegedly assaulting a Bharatiya Janata Party leader, was severely wounded in the attack by the crowd. He was first taken to Tangi Hospital and later to Bhubaneswar, said Khurda Superintendent of Police Alekh Chandra Pahi.

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Pahi added that no casualties have been reported so far, according to The Indian Express.

Odisha State Vice President of the BJP, Bhrugu Baxipatra, said on Twitter that he hoped Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik would take strong action against the guilty.

“Violence has no place in a democracy,” he wrote. “Strongly condemn Chilika MLA Prashant Jagdev’s behaviour who rammed his vehicle into the crowd. Pained to know that several people and police personnel [are] injured in the accident.”

Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee President Niranjan Patnaik condemned the incident too, saying, “BJD MLA from Chilika Prashant Jagdev’s Lakhimpur Kheri moment! This is how BJD treats the common man of Odisha. I am at a loss of words to condemn such a deplorable, inhuman act.”

In Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district, Union minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra had allegedly ran over eight people with a car on October 3 during a protest against the now-repealed three farm laws.