Cine stars to campaign in panchayat polls

Bhubaneswar: With nomination filing process for the three-tire panchayat elections begins in Odisha, the ruling BJD and opposition BJP today released lists of star campaigners that included union ministers, film actors, singers, MPs and MLAs.

All political parties need to submit the list of campaigners to the State Election Commission before campaigning begins.

Union Ministers Jual Oram and Dharmendra Pradhan would campaign for BJP candidates, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's name was on the top of the list of BJD star campaigners for the panchayat polls being held in five phases from February 13, party officials said.

BJD has finalised a list of its celebrities who will be involved in the election rallies and campaigning for upcoming panchayat elections. The list contains names of 30 politicians and 10 celebrities including filmstar turned MP Siddhant Mohapatra, Anubhav Mohanty, Prashant Nanda, Akash Das Nayak and Munna Khan.

Other stars who will appear in the BJD rallies included popular Odia film actor Arindam Ray, veteran actor Mihir Das, Kuna Tripathy, Satwaki Mishra and singer Trupti Das, BJD leaders said.

However, BJD president dropped comedian Pappu from the list after his name appeared in several controversies.

Similarly, the BJP campaigner list contains names of Bijay Mohapatra, MLA Dilip Ray, state party president Basant Panda, BJP legislature party leader K V Singh Deo and cine stars Pinki Pradhan and Sritam Das.