Berhampur: Apprehending foul play by ruling BJD during panchayat polls in Odisha's Ganjam, BJP demanded deployment of special protection forces in some of the vulnerable areas in the district.
"We doubt if the elections will be free and fair with the local police on election duty because we feel it will favour the ruling party," said BJP's Odisha unit Secretary and spokesperson Golak Mohapatra.
"At several places, we received complaints about police personnel and officials of the block development offices threatening people opposed to the ruling party," he said. "We will appraise the State Election Commission about it," he added.
He said BJP will field zilla parishad (ZP) candidates in all 69 ZP seats in the state, "We are happy as more than one aspirant applied for the party ticket, while five years ago we could not find the suitable person," he said.
In the 69-member ZP, the BJP had won two seats in the last panchayat election. Bibhuti Jena, another secretary of the party's state unit said, the BJP would highlight the failure of the BJD on all front.
The five-phase panchayat polls will be held from February 13 to February 21.