Appeal of 9 Keonjhar ULB councilors: Next hearing on Feb 2

Bhubaneswar: The State Election Commission (SEC) on Wednesday posted its next hearingon the alleged violation of anti-defection law by nine councilors of Keonjhar Municipality on February 2.

Earlier in the day, the nine BJD councilors - Sushree Sangeeta Nanda, Dillip Kumar Behera, Swarnalata Sahu, Prabhati Patnaik, Sabita Sethi, Kumudini Nayak, Satrughna Nayak, Sunil Kumar Nayak and Kuna Naik- deposed before the SEC here and submitted the required information.

They had urged the commission not to disqualify them as per the amendment to Section 17 of the Odisha Municipal Act, 1950 (Odisha Municipal Laws (Second Amendment) Act, 2015.

The SEC had served notices to these councilors, the Municipality executive officer, Urban Development Commissioner and a representative of BJD to personally appear before it.

It may be mentioned that the chairperson of Kendujhargarh Municipality Meena Majhi had lost in the no-trust motion after 15 councillors including the nine rebel councilors voted against her on December 28.