Bargarh gets new Collector, SP ahead of Bijepur bypoll

Bhubaneswar/Bargarh: Odisha government on Friday appointed new Bargarh Collector and superintendent of police, two weeks ahead of the by-election to the Bijepur assembly constituency in the district.

The development comes after the Election Commission ordered  to change the district Collector and SP. The Election Commission of India (ECI) had asked the state government to recommend the names of three IAS officers and three IPS officers working in the state.

Yamini Sarangi, the present Collector of Jagatsinghpur, has been appointed as Bargarh Collector while SP Jugal Kishore Banoth was replaced by Jai Narayan Pankaj.

Earlier, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had approached the ECI to transfer the Collector and the SP of the district for a free and fair election. The saffron party had alleged that the Collector and SP were working as BJD's agents.