Odisha Urban Polls: Uphill Task For Candidates To Woo Voters As Jeypore Limps With Age-Old Problems

With Jeypore all set to elect its municipal council chairperson directly almost after three decades, the three major political parties- BJD, BJP and Congress are leaving no stone unturned to woo voters in their favour.

The campaigning has gained pace in every nook and corner of the city with candidates trying outsmart one another in order to take charge of the 70-year-old municipal council.

While BJD's chairperson candidate Surya Narayan Rath, who held the vice-chairperson post thrice, is trying to convince voters by promising development, BJP candidate Purna Chandra Patnaik has taken up sanitisation and drainage issue as the agenda for his campaigning. 

On the other hand, Congress candidate Narendra Mohanty is hopeful that the voters will choose the right candidate after taking the large-scale irregularities in the municipal council into consideration.

"The BJD held council here for the last 20 years, but there is no development," said Mohanty.

"The residents of Jeypore are suffering from issues like water-logging, sanitisation and drainage since long. If I come to power, I will work on those," he said.

BJD candidate Surya Narayan Rath said,"If I am voted to power, restoration works of Jagannath Sagar will be carried out first and Rs 46 lakh has been sanctioned for the developmental works."

Meanwhile, bugged with age-old 'unaddressed' issues, the voters are all set to counter the candidates, as far as their claims go.

"The sanitisation work has been privatised for which it cannot be carried out properly. No developmental work has been done in the recent past," said Rabindranath Patnaik, a local resident.