THE Peoples Democratic Party legislative primary election in Delta State ended in chaos on Wednesday.

The election process which held in Asaba, the state capital, was being aired live on Channels Television when suddenly violence erupted.

As the votes were being counted, a woman — believed to be one of the aspirants — approached the people in charge and started speaking angrily at them. All pleas for her to return to her seat fell on deaf ears. As the situation grew hotter, some of her supporters joined in the argument and started destroying tables and ballot boxes used for the election.

Security agents, made up largely of policemen, who had been trying to calm the quarrelling parties down, were left with no option than to resort to the use of force. Gunshots were fired into the air to disperse the crowd, whom by now have become very angry and destructive.

The aspirants jumped into their waiting vehicles and zoomed off, while one of the youths involved in the melee was arrested and bundled away in a police vehicle.

Primary elections being conducted by the PDP and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have so far been characterised by violence and irregularities in almost all the states of the federation.

According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), primary elections ahead of the 2019 general election are to begin on August 18 and end on October 7, 2018.

The deadline for the submission of names of candidates for the presidential and national assembly elections is October 18, while that of the governorship and state assembly elections is November 2, 2018.

More details on the Delta State PDP legislative primaries later..