According to sources, the state government had reserved the ward member seat for a tribal woman at ward no 20 at Gohirigadia village under Barunagadia panchayat in Balasore district. A village meeting was held opposing the government’s decision and the only tribal family residing in the village was asked not to contest in the panchayat poll.
Besides, the village meeting had threatened to banish Girith Soren’s family from village if she takes part in the election. Besides, the meeting warned of taking action against fellow villagers if they were found to be helping Girith.
Girith, however, submitted her nomination papers with the support of five families of the village. GIrith not only contested the election but she was also elected unopposed.
The village head called a meeting in which Kangaroo Court decided to ostracise Girith’s family and five other families that supported Girith. That’s not all. These six families have also been banned from worshipping at Shiva temple and buying things from village shops. The village court has also made it clear that those who will be having conversation with these families will have to pay a penalty of Rs 10,000.
Meanwhile, Girith reported the matter to the Sarpanch, block development officer and District Collector.
Girith said, “We are banned from meeting people, buying things from village shops and worshipping in our village temple just because I stood for the post of ward member in the panchayat election despite being a tribal.”
Niranjan Rout, an ostracized villager, said “Going against the Kangaroo court we helped Girith to win the election and thus invited village head’s wrath.”
On the other hand, the village head Bijayananda Behera refuted the allegations terming it as a political conspiracy. “These are baseless and untrue allegations. Election was held three months back. I could see a political conspiracy behind such allegations.”
Barunagadia sarpanch Karunakar Mallick said “I have received written complaint in this regard. I got to know from the letter that as Girith belongs to a tribal community and contested the poll, villagers have ostracized her. I have taken up the matter with the higher authorities. If needed, I personally visit the village to resolve the issue.”
When contacted, Balasore Dstrict Collector K Sudarshan Chakroborty said I have asked the block development officer to launch an inquiry and submit a detailed report. Based on the report, I would take necessary action.”
While a booth rigging incident was reported from Jajpur district, people scuffled with police in Bargarh district, once again raising questions over the security arrangements for the crucial rural body polls.
Earlier in the day, polling at booth no-VIII in Madhupur village of Kanikapada Panchayat under Dasarathapur Block in Jajpur district was going on smoothly. Out of the 572 voters, 382 had exercised their voters. However, towards the closing hours, some miscreants forced their entry into the booth when some women were casting their votes.
Before anyone could figure out their motive, the miscreants allegedly snatched the ballot papers way from the presiding officer present in the booth and stamped on a particular symbol. It was also alleged that they even tore up some ballot papers. The entire incident was captured in the mobile phones of some onlookers at the booth.
Earlier, polling at booth no-II and III in the same Kanikapada Panchayat was disrupted after miscreants allegedly tore up ballot papers before fleeing with some of them.
The police-public face off was reported from Kathaumal under Gaisilet police limits in Bargarh district. Misunderstanding is said to be the reason leading to the tension.
Around 1 pm voting was underway at the booth in Kathaumal village. Just then, a mobile team of policemen entered the booth to carry out an inspection. People who were present at the booth opposed entry of the policemen, leading to a verbal duel. Soon, the duel snowballed into a scuffle with the angry people attacking the men in khaki. The police resorted to mild lathi charge in order to bring the situation under control.
Poll battles ahead of the war
Panchayat poll in February was an indicative test on popularity front for ruling BJD. Though BJD remained the top scorer in rural polls, BJP's significant success gave cold feet to the ruling party. While BJD leaders accepted that overconfidence led to loss at several ZP zones, the saffron party got the much needed confidence boost which dictated the party's strategy towards the ruling-dispensation all through the year. Meanwhile, the push and shove continues for the pending by-poll for the Bijepur constituency necessitated by the demise of Congress MLA Subal Sahu as many see it as one more litmus test for the parties ahead of the real war of 2019.
BJP’s 'Mission 120'
Whether it is Mission 120 or Mission 120+, it was one of the boldest claims made by any party against the ruling dispensation in its 17 years rule. The success in the Panchayat Polls provided the BJP enough fuel and confidence to take the fight on to the ruling-BJD at least verbally with its campaign to claim more than 120 seats, ahead of the 2019 general elections.
Congress' leadership crisis
What stemmed from belligerence towards Congress’ Odisha in-charge BK Hariprasad soon snowballed into a leadership crisis for the party over the course of 2017. The cracks at the seams became gulf between the members assuming implosive proportions. The Congress got divided into two camps and pressure continued to mount on current Odisha chief of the party Prasad Harichandan to make way.
New Naveen
There are a lot of conceivable underpinnings –perception management, growing social media presence of opposition or could be just plain simple need-of-the-hour among others. Considered to be a man of a few words, Odisha CM and BJD president Naveen Patnaik somehow in 2016 became a man of a few more words. From taking selfies to clocking a record number of followers on social media, Naveen Patnaik’s image was never more expressive & vocal. Moreover, there was a conscious effort on the part of his party to deify its leader, which was evident during Naveen's march to New Delhi for a tripartite meeting over Mahanadi dispute and also upon his return after receiving the best administrator award from Outlook magazine.
Biggest Cabinet rejig
In the biggest reshuffle in the history of BJD's 17 years' rule, party president and CM Naveen Patnaik inducted 10 new ministers , 6 of whom were new faces, into the State cabinet. Sushant Singh, Nrushingha Sahu, Anant Das, Chandra Sarathi Behera and Sashi Bhusan Behera became ministers for the first time, while Naveen also reposed faith on veterans like Niranjan Pujari, Surya Naryan Patro, Prafulla Samal, Pratap Jena and Maheswar Mohanty by giving them another chance.
High profile visits
Visits by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP National President Amit Shah more than once this year underlined the Saffron party's 'Look East' policy. Such visits not only 'galvanised' the BJP party workers in Odisha but also Narendra Modi's extemporaneously got off his vehicle to take a walk amidst sea of crowd at Jaydev Vihar caught everybody's attention and many off-guard.
Third front & alliance chatter
Political circle was abuzz with talks on a possible ‘grand alliance’ after meetings between BJD president and Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik with Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Even Naveen's meetings with Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav did add fuel to the fire. On the domestic front, BJD vice president and senior minister Damodar Rout's comments that Congress is not ‘untouchable’ did increase the likelihood of BJD looking for a partner to counter BJP in 2019.
Egregious protests
In 2017, amid the war of words between political parties, a concurrent war of eggs was being waged on the ground with many senior leaders across party lines falling victim to this egregious form of protest to settle political scores. Egg attack on Kendrapara MP Baijayant Panda during a visit to Mahanga drew sharp criticism from different quarters. Similarly, BJP supporters slammed the State government after Union Minister Jual Oram faced an egg attack in Rajkanika in June. Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh’s vehicle was also attacked with eggs in Bhubaneswar during his visit to State.
Party hopping
As 2017 drew to a close, the general elections of 2019 drew closer. The emergence of BJP, frequent infighting within Congress and sporadic discontent in BJD brought about a lot of churning within the parties. Throughout the year ‘Mishran Parvas’ (joining ceremony) were held by BJD and BJP to welcome members while Congress bled. Some high profile and noteworthy defections included Congress' Sulochana Das & late Subal Sahu's family joining BJD and Congress' firebrand leader late Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra's daughter Upasana getting into BJP fold.
Student Elections
Interestingly, student elections this year were called off in more number of colleges than they were actually held. Student polls across the State were marred by unrest and alleged political interference leading to cancellation of polls barring a handful of colleges. However, amid such pandemonium, shoots of reforms emerged to curb disturbances and political interferences. Even though no headway was made in 2017, Ravenshaw University’s proposed new model of election is something to watch out for.
Pratap Deb's nomination to Rajya Sabha
BJD’s Pratap Keshari Deb became Rajya Sabha member from Odisha after he was elected uncontested in May. The by-election to the Upper House was necessitated after Bishnu Charan Das resigned from the Rajya Sabha in March following his appointment as deputy chairman of the Odisha State Planning Board. Congress and the BJP did not field any candidate for the Rajya Sabha by-poll. Deb is also a spokesperson of the ruling BJD.
Exercising franchise as per their own choice in the recently concluded panchayat election cost Bhikari Sahu and his family dear. After election, one Silu Swain who won and became the sarpanch became vindictive as he got to know that the family had voted for his rival candidate and allegedly beat Sahu and other members of his family in a fit of rage.
"I was thrashed severely by Swain after my family members ignored a meeting convened by him post the panchayat poll. I fainted in the attack and was hospitalised", Sahu said.
The sarpanch allegedly tied Sahu's daughter to a tree before thrashing her black and blue.
"They battered me severely after tying me to a tree. Now everyone is passing comment after the incident. I want justice against such crime", said Rasmita, daughter of Bhikari.
The family fear returning to the village without police protection.
"A search has been launched to trace some people involved in the incident, said Gupta Mahakud, additional SP of Ganjam.
Additional Collector Saroj Mishra said, "We have asked the SP to expedite the investigation and take strict action against all accused".
The sarpanch, however, has denied allegations and refused to comment.
The leaders of political parties are keeping a close watch on the developments and have adopted different strategies to prevent cross-voting in few districts of the state.
As per the notification of the State Election Commission, the nomination process will start from 10 am while the election in case of one of more candidates will be held from 1:30 pm to 4 pm.
Official sources said, the ruling BJD candidates are likely to form zila parishad councils in 14 districts followed by BJP in seven while one post is likely to go in favour of the Congress.
Earlier, major political parties including the BJD had issued whip to all its zila parishad members to vote on party lines so as to leave no chance to capture the panchayat samitis.
The party Supremo Naveen Patnaik had also held a meeting with the senior leaders, including the district unit presidents, earlier this week to draw up strategy for the elections to the chairpersons of the 314 panchayat samitis held yesterday and presidents of 30 zila parishad members.
The political parties including BJP, Congress and the BJD have clearly instructed their MLAs and leaders from respective districts to ensure victory of the ZP members who have been given tickets for the chairperson seat.
District leaders have arrived near the BJP core committee to present the details of victory and defeat. A closed door review was done by the saffron party at the State headquarters. While the meeting was headed by State President Basant Panda, Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Jual Oram, National Joint Secretary (Organisation) Soudan Singh and Odisha In-charge Arun Singh were among the few who were present in the meeting.
After official declaration of the panchayat poll results, 297 Zilla Parishad seats came in hand of BJP. However, based on the calculations of party agents the state leaders had added 34 more seats in the account of BJP. As the party has earned majority in eight districts, it can form Zilla Parishads there. The current factors that led to BJP's victory in comparison to 2012 rural polls are being reviewed by the party leaders.
Talking to media persons, former BJP MP Rudra Narayan Pani said, "The organisation is increasing in a planned way during every election in Dhenkanal and Angul districts and the amount of votes have increased. While the ruling BJD confined us at 25 seats, we could have earned five to seven more seats and could have formed Zilla Parishads comfortably in two districts."
State BJP Krushak Morcha president Sibaji Mohanty said, "Analysis was done in panchayat level to find our position in every panchayats, who is our opposition there and what is our margin."
Notably, even though the BJP was in alliance with BJD in 2002 and 2007, the performance of the party was not so good. The party had won 183 seats in 2002 and 129 seats in 2007. After breaking the alliance and contesting alone in 2012 the party had received only 36 seats. So now the leaders are excited to have achieved such an increase in votes. The party is planning for the 2019 elections on basis of these votes. The core committee members have asked the local leaders to strengthen the party.
BJP Mahila Morcha President Prabhati Parida talking to media persons said, "A form had been sent to find out the amount of our votes and votes of other parties and all had been asked to submit the form along with signatures. The core committee sat to plan the strategies for the Nabakalebara to be held in 2019 as said by the State leaders."
It may be mentioned that the BJP was not able to open account in 14 districts during 2012 elections. In current election, excluding the home district of State President Basant Panda, Nuapada, BJP has marked its presence in every districts of Odisha.
The deceased has been identified as Bulu Pradhan. Locals said, Pradhan was also contesting in the ongoing panchayat election as a samiti member.
State Election Commission (SEC) secretary RN Sahu informed that polling in the gram panchayat has been cancelled and date of repolling in the region will be announced at a later stage.
Sources said, followers of Pradhan and his opponent party clashed late last night over poll related issues. Though exact reason behind the scuffle is not known, police said they are investigating the matter.
While two injured are undergoing treatment at Hinjili hospital, eight were admitted to the MKCG medical college and hospital in Berhampur.
In a similar poll related violence case, scuffle ensued between two groups in Simuliapatna village under Kangakhunta panchayat of Soro block in Balasore district this morning. Voting was halted for a brief period after voters alleged that the polling officials were folding the ballot papers in wrong way to favour a particular candidate. Voting continued after Additional District Magistrate (ADM) and police pacified the agitated villagers.
In Jajpur district, police resorted to mild lathi charge after two groups clashed in a polling booth in Pacchicoat GP. The villagers alleged that the polling officials were allowing the voters who were supporting a particular candidate. The situation is under control in the area, police said.
The irate villagers, who refused to release Nayak, later handed him over to the police who told them that cases will be registered against them if they resort to violence.
Police later seized 52 umbrellas with the conch symbol of BJD, two liquor bottles and other materials from the vehicle used by Nayak. Apart from this, police also recovered Rs 8200 cash from him.
Bonai Sub-Collector is probing into the incident.
Prior to this incident, people of Jhirpani in the district had caught Nayak red-handed while he was distributing money to influence voters to vote in favour of BJD candidates on February 14 in gross violation of the model code of conduct.
The cars belonging to former Congress MLA Rabi Mallick and his two supporters were allegedly set on fire by opposition party members. It has also been alleged that some members of opposition party entered into the house of Mallick and ransacked his property.
One person, injured during the scuffle, succumbed to his injuries while undergoing treatment at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack. Meanwhile tension is prevailing in the village.
Pradhan said that it a victory of the people of Odisha, a fruit of long oppression is being seen as Odisha is moving towards a new direction. However he alleged, “The District Collectors and SPs in the State are acting as General Secretaries of ruling party, the results have been manipulated in some places illegally.”
Talking about poll violence Pradhan said that the State Government has got into a tizzy after knowing the results. Violence has been seen in Nabarangpur, Mayurbhanj, Cuttack and Kendrapara. “The ruling party has become a murderer,” he added.
Pradhan appealed the poll commission to ensure fairness in ensuing elections. He said, “The State Election Commission should instruct the Chief Secretary and DGP to ensure fair elections and they are bound to comply to the order of the SEC as per the constitution.”
Countering the statements of Pradhan, BJD spokesperson Shashi Bhusan Behera said, “While giving such statements the leaders of BJP, may it be the Union Minister or any other leader, should ask themselves that how far are they giving responsible statements.”
Behera said that Congress would also have started personal review after the BJP fetched away its votes. As the BJP and Congress come together to target the BJD, their followers have supported the party that has gained some recognition, there is nothing new in it. He added, “If the BJP enjoys it let it enjoy, but it will not affect the BJD, the BJD was number one, will remain number one, you will see after the getting the results of the rest four phases.”
There was a competition between BJP and Congress to stay at second or third position and BJP won to gain the second position, said Behera.
Further Behera said the allegations of Pradhan portrays about his irresponsibility, “If he has any evidence about any poll related discrepancy than he should present it before the Election Commission.”
Similarly the ballot boxes from booth number 12 and 14 in Bangalpur panchayat of the district were looted, broken into pieces and ballot papers were taken away. In Ramchandrapur panchayat, after the end of polling in eight booths, miscreants looted ballot box from the polling party vehicle and set it on fire.
Police reached the spot to recover he ballot boxes and has initiated an investigation. The State Election Commission (SEC) has been intimated about the incident.
“Elections will be held in 189 Zilla Parishad Zones in 29 districts in which a total of 58,28,446 voters will exercise their franchise for which arrangements have been made for polling in 20,369 booths. The elections would be held in 1506 Gram Panchayats,” SEC secretary Rabindranath Sahu told media persons here.
He further said the Commission has directed the district collectors to make necessary arrangements for installation of CCTV cameras and videography in the sensitive booths, if required.
Polling would begin at 7 AM.
Sahu said as announced by the Commission in its earlier notification, campaigning for the first phase elections will come to an end by this evening while the polling parties would reach their allotted polling booths by afternoon tomorrow.
“Besides, the leaders, who are not the voters and presently staying in the area where the elections would be held on February 13, will have to leave the area by this evening,” he added.
The Panchayat elections will be held for the posts of 853 Zilla Parishad members, 6,802 Sarpanches, 6,801 Panchayat Samiti members and 92,052 ward members, in which 2,60,92,507 voters will exercise their franchise.
As informed by the SEC RN Senapati, elections will be held in five phases on February 13, 15, 17, 19 and 21. Polling on each of these five days will start at 7 am and go on till 12 noon.
“The Centre has been pumping in enough financial assistance to the Odisha government for development in rural areas. But, sadly, there is no proper utilisation of the funds in the implementation of the developmental programmes as the bureaucrats and the ruling party leaders are busy in misappropriating a major chunk of the assistance,” Yadav told media persons here.
Taking a gibe at chief minister Naveen Patnaik, the Union minister said the former despite being aware of the modus operandi, has remained silent which shows that he is protecting his party men and the bureaucrats and allowing them to indulge in corruption.
“Corruption in Odisha has reached the climax. The information I have received is that the ruling party leaders and bureaucrats are claiming 20-25% of the financial allocations from the contractors in the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). Besides, the beneficiaries are being asked to pay Rs 10,000 for each house in the Awas Yojana. Similar claims are also being made to the beneficiaries in the construction of toilets in rural areas,” Yadav pointed out.
Also read: BJP has scored a self-goal by inviting Raman Singh
The Union minister also took a swipe at the state government on distribution of PDS items. “The Centre has made specific arrangements provide rice and wheat to the rural people at an affordable price. But the state government has been taking credit by telling the people that the distribution of subsidised rice and wheat among the rural poor is its own programme. We will expose the modus operandi of the Odisha government as our party workers would visit each village in the state and apprise the people of the dirty game the state government has been playing,” he informed.
According to sources, family of one Rabindra Lenka of Rajgarh village had an altercation with another family over supporting a candidate for the three-tire panchayat polls.
The altercation took a violent turn as the members of the families hurled stones, bottles at each other in which five persons sustained injuries, sources added.
Out the five persons three sustained critical injuries in the violence. The three critically injured persons have been identified as Rabindra Lenka, his wife Prabhabati Lenka and son Amiya Lenka.
Also read: Panchayat pre-poll violence toll mounts to two in Odisha
The trio were first admitted to Kendrapara hospital and later shifted to SCB medical college and hospital in Cuttack.
Being informed about the incident, police rushed to spot and started an investigation into the matter.
Patnaik will campaign for the BJD candidates contesting in the three-tier panchayat elections only in his constituency of Hinjilicut, though many party leaders wanted the chief minister to visit their areas, party sources said.
According to programme fixed by the party, Patnaik is scheduled to campaign for BJD candidates at Tanhara, Pitala, Narendrapur, Patharapunji, Dhanantara, Dhabalapur, Takarada, Mahupadar, Kulagada, Khirida, Bandhaguda, Baramunduli, Kumarapani and Karadakana in Seragada block.
Panchayat polls in these areas will be held on February 13. Patnaik will hold road shows instead of addressing any public meeting, they said.
The BJD president who had attended at least 50 public meetings during the panchayat elections in 2012, preferred to concentrate in his own constituency this time, even as chief ministers of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand are campaigning for BJP candidates in different parts of Odisha.
Party sources said that Patnaik had already toured all the 30 districts of Odisha before announcement for the panchayat elections were made.
Also read: Ram Kripal Yadav accuses BJD of ‘looting public money’
While Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh addressed three public meetings in Bolangir, Jharsuguda and Sundergarh on Thursday and will be campaigning in the state again on Saturday, Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das has also been campaigning in Odisha.
Union Ministers Jual Oram, Dharmendra Pradhan and Ram Kripal Yadav are busy campaigning for the BJP candidates in Odisha.
Talking to Panchayat Express of OTV, they said that though the village has seen a lot of development works in the recent past, more such initiatives need to be taken up by the sarpanch who will be elected in the ensuing polls.
“Earlier we had kuchha roads. But the scenario started changing in the past couple of years after concrete roads were made. But a lot more has to be done so far connectivity to other villages is concerned. We hope our new sarpanch can do a lot for the development of our village,” said a villager.
The villagers also rued despite the presence of a handful of tube wells in the village, water issue is yet to be resolved.
“Come summer, the water scarcity arises. During these days, majority of the hand run out of order and we have to go for miles to fetch water. We need a permanent solution to the problem,” said another villager.
On the demands of the villagers, a sarpanch aspirant said that the problems will be solved in two-three years.
“As a samiti member I am aware of the issues. I feel that in both road and water issues half of the work is done and it will take another two to three years for completion of all undergoing projects,” he noted.
Addressing a gathering at Burda in Bolangir district, the Chief Minister said: " I am here to tell the truth as a fellow neighbour, not as a Chief Minister. It's the duty of a neighbour to resolve a misunderstanding."
He said the dispute can be resolved if Chief Ministers of both the states "sit together".
Contrary to the claims of Odisha government that the constructions of dams on the upper catchment areas would hamper the interest of the state, the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister claimed 82 per cent of the water drains into the sea.
"While Odisha utilises 13 per cent of the water, Chhattisgarh gets only 4 per cent. The rest goes to the sea. The Odisha government can create dams and barrages to reserve the water for its benefit," he said.
Singh, who came to Odisha as a star campaigner for BJP candidates contesting the three-tier panchayat elections amid protests from all non-BJP parties in the State, said he was ready for a discussion to resolve the Mahanadi water issue for the benefit of both the States.
"....I do not think it proper to make Mahanadi water dispute an issue in the panchayat elections," Singh told a public meeting at Budra in Bolangir district.
Reacting on this, the ruling BJD said Singh has created the issue over Mahanadi water sharing between two States while Odisha wanted a solution.
"He has ignored the interests of Odisha and created an issue out of nothing...The people of Odisha have understood this and they will undoubtedly give a befitting reply to the party in the ensuing election" BJD spokesperson Sashibhusan Behera told to media in a press meet.
Meanwhile, the ruling Biju Janata Dal in Odisha staged "Jal Satyagraha" in at Sambalpur and Cuttack protesting the visit of Chief Minister Singh to the state.
The Congress party also staged a demonstration for the same in Loisinga block of Bolangir district.
"The Chhattisgarh government has constructed barrages on the Mahanadi river unilaterally which will affected the interest of Odisha. The central government has also remained silent over the issue instead of directing Chhattisgarh to stop construction works immediately," said BJD spokesperson Sashibhusan Behera.
The dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh over the Mahanadi has continued for long, since the construction of barrages by the latter state on the river and its tributaries has allegedly affected the flow of water into Odisha.
Activists in large number of the regional party will take to the protest in Sambalpur and Cuttack, informed BJD spokesperson Sashibhusan Behera.
Addressing media Behera said, “How we will allow a man in our land, who is against the interest of our people and State? Mahanadi is our lifeline and is depended upon since ages by people across the State. We are saddened that despite the issue for which the Centre was requested to intervene, Singh has not stopped construction of a single barrage in the upper catchment area of Mahanadi.”
“To protest his Odisha visit we will stage ‘jal satyagraha’ from tomorrow at Cuttack and Sambalpur. In the morning our party activists will stage the protest in Mahanadi at Sambalpur and in the evening we will perform ‘sandhya alati’ (evening puja). It will be a peaceful and silent protest,” he stated.
Also read: Odisha to go to any extent to stop Mahanadi barrage: BJD
Expressing similar views, BJD MP Kalikesh Singhdeo said, "Someone can imagine what will be the effect on the district's people if a person, who is blocking the flow of Mahanadi water on which the western Odisha farmers have the rights and sell it to industrialists, visit the areas here."
Clarifying on his party's stand, Congress MLA from Jharsuguda Naba Das stated, "People of Lakhanpur will give a fitted reply to the person, who is responsible to stop the Mahanadi water flow into the district. An agitation will be held in democratic way during his visit."
BJP sources said Singh will arrive here tomorrow and campaign for the party in several districts of the State for a couple of days.
Reacting to the proposed protests, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the state's people will help bring down the BJD government that he said was mired in corruption.
He said the state government is trying to suppress the voice of the opposition ahead of the local polls.
The posters and banners mentioning the names of CPI (M) secretaries Das Brahma and Umakanta Mishra were found at various places in the area.
With the panchayat polls scheduled to kick off from February 13, people in Kalyansighnpur area in the district are in a state of panic, reports said
The former MLAs, prepared themselves to be a leader at village level, have become the cynosure of all eyes. The reason of contesting for samiti member is the office of block chairman.
Brundaban Majhi, who was representing Kuchinda and Laikera Assembly constituency earlier and had become the Sambalpur zilla Parishad chairman, has now landed in the rural poll battle from Badamal panchayat. He expressed his aim to become the chairman of Kuchinda block.
"I have aimed at occupying the block chairman post. The reason behind it is to implement various government schemes in my block", Majhi said.
Similarly, former BJP MLA Padma Charan Haiburu is keen on gaining the post of block chairman. The Karanjia legislator in 2000 is contesting for Samiti member from Bigidhar panchayat under Thakurmunda block in Mayurbhanj district.
"It is clearly visible that a veteran leader would be the block chairman if he is elected as Samiti member", Haiburu said.
Another veteran leader Gopal Pujari had fought the Lok Sabha election during last general polls on Ama Odisha ticket. This time, he is contesting for Samiti member from Batabharandi panchayat of Umarkote block in Nabarangpur district with the same ambition.
"The residents of Batabharandi have required a chairman like Gopal Pujari. All are committed to make him the block chairman after ensuring his victory as Samiti member", he told OTV at campaign rally.
“I don't know what was mentioned in the affidavit. If it's Kabita instead of Babita Tarai, it might be a typographical error. My advocate might have committed the error while typing the name on affidavit", the BJD legislator said.
Similarly, he held the teachers, who had conducted the survey for preparation of voter identity card, responsible for the mistake in his father's name. He said "Bimal and Bimbadhar is the same person. My father has given a declaration in this regard,” Tarai added.
Kishore's wife name was mentioned as Kabita Tarai in the affidavit he had submitted during the general election while another document relating to purchase of land read her name as Babita. Even his wife, who is contesting the panchayat poll from Penthapala gram Panchayat, has submitted her caste certificate to election officer during nomination mentioning her name as Babita Tarai.
Similarly, the affidavit which was submitted by the ruling party legislator during 2004 Assembly election read Bimbadhar Tarai as his father while in another affidavit produced before the Election Commission during 2014 polls, he has mentioned that Bimal Tarai is his father.
Both BJP and Congress have targeted the ruling party MLA for having changed the names of his relatives in different times.
"The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLA is changing version every day. He spoke one thing during election and changed the voice after being elected by the people. Sometimes he changed his father's name while his wife's name is mentioned differently. Kishore Babu should file another affidavit declaring that same person bears two names- Babita and Kabita", BJP spokesperson Sajjan Sharma said.
Congress leader Ganeswar Behera termed the work of changing names as punishable offence. "He has submitted two false affidavits. First one is related to his father's name and second one is his wife. This is illegal and a punishable offence", Behera added.
The Kendrapara district administration, however, feigned ignorance over the issue. "Neither, we have any information regarding the issue nor received any complaint from anybody. Proper investigation will be held on receiving written complaint", Collector Muralidhar Mallik said.
"If he (BDO) is not transferred, we will move court and talk to common people", Behera said, adding the candidature of the dalit women-Gayatri Sethy and Pramila Mallik- should remain valid and the guilty should be awarded punishment, who withdrew the nomination papers by forging the signatures of the candidates.
Senior Congress leader Narasingha Mishra too alleged that candidature of opposition parties' candidates is deliberately cancelled to help contestants of the ruling party win in the panchayat polls.
"Without any substantial proof, names of opposition party candidates are declared invalid. If this is the case why the poll is conducted? asked Mishra.
On the other hand, Election Commission secretary Rabindra Sahu said the matter is being looked into. "We have received the complaint from Congress and the report from district Collector and observer on the allegation. Action will be taken after the report and complaint are examined", he said.
Meanwhile, MLA Kishore Tarai feigned ignorance about the issue. "He/she, who withdrew the nomination and BDO must be aware about the matter. I have no idea on it. The Election Commission is investigating the incident. The allegation is false and baseless. If Congress brings some allegation, it should provide the proof", the legislator said.
Reacting on the charge that attempt was made to ensure victory of his wife in Penthapal panchayat, he said there is no mention in any where that the wife of a legislator can not contest the poll.
Earlier in the morning, Congress activists blocked the road near Penthapala panchayat by burning tyres on road. They stage demonstration against the local BJD MLA.
Tension cropped up after Gayatri Sethy and Pramila Mallik, who had filed nominations from Penthapala panchayat samity in Pattamundai block, were declared to have withdrawn their nomination papers.
Following the matter came to fore, Congress activists had gheraoed Pattamundai block office and claimed that the two dalit candidates never applied for withdrawal. Senior Congress leader Ganeswar Behera had earlier alleged that the election officers in charge of conducting polls have formed an unholy alliance with the BJD to ensure the victory of candidates who owe their allegiance to the ruling party.
Behera had claimed that there was a “deep conspiracy” as Babita Tarai, spouse of the BJD MLA, was in the fray from Penthapala and with both of her rivals not being in the contest anymore, she was poised to be declared won unopposed.
Bhubaneswar: Total 1,89,099 candidates are in the panchayat poll fray according to the final list declared by the State Election Commission (SEC) after the deadline for nomination withdrawal got ended yesterday, said secretary of the commission Rabindra Nath Sahu today.
“For the sarpanch post 26,539 candidates are in the poll battle whereas 22,109 are in the fray for panchayat samiti member post. In case of zilla parishad, 3,288 candidates are in the poll clash while 1,37,163 are in the fray for ward member post,” Sahu elaborated.
He added, out of total valid nominations, 17,616 candidates have withdrawn their papers.
Campaigning for the panchayat poll started today after nomination, scrutiny and withdrawal process got over yesterday.
Sahu stated, “The poll campaigning will end at 7 pm on February 11 i.e. 36 hours before poll day on February 13.”
Also read: SEC defers panchayat poll process in Chitrakonda block
“General Poll Observers and Expenditure Observers have already joined their duty. The Expenditure Observers are apprising poll candidates on how to maintain accounts and register on poll expenses so that the same can be examined in future,” Sahu added.
The State Election Commission has received the list of star campaigners from different political parties. As per the Election Commission guidelines, one political party can have maximum 40 star poll campaigners, he said.
The three major political parties with focus on zilla parishads have implemented action plan to woo the voters.
While BJD and BJP have fielded candidates in most of the places out of total 851 seats, Congress candidates are in poll battle at 839 places.
Also read: SEC defers panchayat poll process in Chitrakonda block
The panchayat polls are scheduled to be held in five phases: February 13, 15, 17, 19 and 21 in Odisha.
Detailing out on the announcement, SEC secretary RN Sahu told newsmen, “Fresh nomination can be filed on January 27, 28, 29 and 30. Scrutiny of nomination will be carried out on January 31 and a list of eligible candidates will be declared on February 2.”
Candidates, who wish to opt out of the panchayat poll battle, can withdraw nomination by 3 pm on February 4.
The final list of the candidates for the panchayat poll will be published after 3 pm on February 4, said Sahu.
Bhubaneswar: After getting a joint report from Malkangiri Collector and SP, the State Election Commission (SEC) today decided to postpone panchayat poll process in 18 panchayats including nine in cut-off area and two zilla parishad zones.
Informing newsmen about the SEC’s decision, State Election Commission Secretary Rabindra Nath Sahu said, “On basis of the joint report mentioning law and order situation in Chitrakonda block and sensing possible difficulties for the government to provide security to poll candidates as well as voters, the panchayat poll process has been postponed in the area.”
Elaborating on the decision, Sahu stated, “Poll for two zilla parishad zones has been postponed. In case of panchayat samiti, the places, where one candidate had filed nomination, the name will be declared later. But in the places where more than one candidate has filed nomination, the poll process has been suspended.”
Sahu added, however, the places where no nomination was filed for panchayat samiti the poll process is cancelled.
Also read: Maoists warn Malkangiri villagers to abstain from panchayat polls
The SEC secretary added in gram panchayats, where more than one candidate has filed nomination the poll process is postponed.
In case one candidate had filed nomination for a gram panchayat, the name will be declared later whereas the process is cancelled where no nomination was filed.
Sahu informed, “New schedule will be announced for places where the poll process has been cancelled.”
In a related development, woman samiti member candidate Sabitri Khemudu today withdrew her nomination for Gajalmamudi panchayat on the last date for nomination withdrawal.
Also read: Maoists kill another villager in Malkangiri
Notably, Sabitri was the lone candidate who had filed nomination for samiti member post despite Maoist threats to villagers of facing kangaroo court trial, if they participate in the ensuing panchayat polls.
Bhawanipatna: After reviewing Maoist situation and preparation for three-tier panchayat poll in tribal dominated Malkangiri district yesterday, Director General of Police (DGP) KB Singh on Saturday visited Kalahandi district and took stock of security arrangement for the ensuing panchayat poll there.
The DGP also discussed about the Maoist situation with SP Brijesh Ray, Nuapada SP Sambit Sampad, Balangir SP Asish Singh and other top police official during his visit to Kalahandi district.
After the review meeting the DGP told newsmen, "In Kalahandi, all poll arrangements have been completed. The police are taking steps to ensure security of poll candidates, voters as well as the polling booths. We expect a large number of voters will turn up to vote on the poll day and the election will be held peacefully."
Singh stated, "Most of the poll candidates have filed their nomination," adding that there is nil impact of the boycott call given by Maoists.
Among others, IG (Operation) RP Koche, DIG (South Western Range) S Saini and DIG Narasingha Bhola were present during the review meeting.
Also read: Will be able to conduct safe, peaceful polls in LWE areas: DGP
On Friday, the DGP visited Malkangiri to take stock of the situation there ahead of panchayat polls.
“Besides the overwhelming rise in number of nominations, he (Shah) was apprised about the changed political situation in the State. He asked the karyakartas to work hard to get the desired results in the ensuing panchayat polls”, Union minister Jual Oram said.
“We too hope that the election results will be on our expected lines”, Oram maintained adding Shah’s suggestion will be helpful for the party activists.
Union Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan who too accompanied Shah during the tour, said Shah took stock of the political situation in Odisha.
“He (Shah) guided the party leaders on party's future approach towards BJD and discussed strategies for the approaching panchayat elections.
"There was no specific agenda. But naturally when the party president is here, we expect him to guide us on party matters," Pradhan said.
“Definitely it will encourage the party activists”, the minster stated.
This was Shah's third visit to the State after he took over the reign of the saffron party. In a public meeting here in November last year, Shah had given a clarion call for regime change in Odisha, a sharp departure from his stoic silence against Naveen in his first meeting here in January 2015. Asking BJP workers to work hard to bring the saffron party to power in the state in 2019, Shah had told them to "show the trailer by doing well in the panchayat elections."
Some posters of the ultra outfit were found near Machakunda-Lamataput Kuja Amba chhak and Anaka Deli panchayat office asking the villagers to not apply for candidature and cast vote in the ensuing panchayat polls.
The red rebels have also warned the tribals that if anybody casts their vote in the three-tier panchayat poll then action will be taken against them in people’s court.
Meanwhile, Maoists have again threatened the locals of tribal dominated Malkangiri district not to participate in the poll.
A letter written by CPI (M) secretary Rukdhara asking people to desist from panchayat poll is in possession of media.
Also read: Maoists warn Malkangiri villagers to abstain from panchayat polls
The CPI (M) has asked the people to stay away from the polls citing that there are lots of problems in the cut-off areas which are yet to be resolved.
According to reports, as many as 2,20,789 candidates have filed papers for panchayat polls scheduled to begin from February 13.
Officials said while 3,880 candidates have filed papers for Zilla Parishad (ZP) member positions, the number is 33,348 for Sarpanch seats. For Panchayat Samiti Members at least 27,475 aspiring candidates have filed papers and, 1,56,086 for Ward Member positions.
A statement released by State Election Commission (SEC) said, with 16,054 nominations Balasore district has received the highest number of papers while Jharsuguda district has the lowest candidates with 1908.
Tuesday was the last day to file nomination papers.
Officials said, candidates wishing to withdraw their names, can do so by 21 January and the final list of candidates in poll fray will be announced on the same date.
According sources, former spokesperson of student wing of the party Ajay Panda and his supporter have hurled eggs and tomatoes at party’s state headquarters. Besides, they also damaged flower vases there.
Ajay was an aspirant from the 37th zone of Banki in Cuttack, but he was denied of the ticket. Irate over the incident, Ajay and his supporters ransacked Congress Bhavan, sources added.
Besides, Ajay has also threatened to hurl eggs and tomatoes at PCC president Prasad Harichandan’s residence if required.
Being informed about the incident, National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) state unit president Itish Pradhan and Congress leader Debasish Patnaik reached spot to assess the situation.
Also read: Miscreants ransack Congress Bhavan
Capital police is investigating into the matter.
Notably, Ajay was suspended from his post by NSUI president for his involvement in anti-party activities.
The Maoists through posters have warned the tribals not to apply for candidature and cast vote in the ensuing Panchayat polls.
According to sources, these posters were found from Chitrakonda area to under constructed Gurupriya bridge asking locals to refrain from panchayat polls in the tribal dominated Malkangiri district.
Also read: Panic grips Titlagarh area after Maoist posters found
The ultras warned the tribals that if anybody contests for Sarpanch, Panchayat Samiti member, Ward member and Zilla Parishad member, they would be sentenced to death. Besides, people who would go to cast vote, will also be given punishment, the posters stated.
While the regional party hinted at Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s hand behind the Central investigating agency’s recent raids on the residences of party MP and MLA in connection with the multi-crore chit fund scam, the saffron party said to ‘avenge’ the CBI raid, BJD targetted Pradhan.
On Saturday raids were conducted by the anti-corruption vigilance wing at several petrol pumps and cooking gas agencies, including the one belonging to the brother of Dharmendra Pradhan, in Odisha following allegation of adulteration and black-marketing.
“It is unfortunate that while the CBI is investigating the chit fund scam in a normal course, the ruling party thought it to be a target by the BJP. And the Crime Branch raid is clearly seen as a move to counter the CBI activities,” BJP’s Sameer Mohanty said.
“Instead of using Crime Branch, if chief minister Naveen Patnaik has the courage, he must welcome the CBI’s investigation process”, Mohanty stated.
On the other hand, the ruling BJD has termed the Central agency a ‘caged parrot’ and said it is being used by Pradhan.
“Why after two years of the scam surfaced, the CBI is conducting raids on BJD leaders”, asked BJD vice president Dama Rout. “Without anybody’s intervention the agency should do it’s job impartially”, Rout said purportedly hinting at Pradhan.
Meanwhile BJD spokesperson Amar Satpathy said the State government has no role in the raid conducted by the Crime Branch.
“It may be a routine raid. BJD has nothing to do with it”, Satpathy maintained.
Malkangiri: In a new turn to the abduction episode, two poll officials today admitted that they were kidnapped by the left wing extremists.
Their statement came a day after the Malkangiri SDPO dismissed the report.
Two election officials Praveen Soren, Kaminikant Se have met top police officials and Collector today after being released from the rebels. They have apprised the officials about the ordeal, sources said.
They said three more officials-SP Rajguru,Padmanabha Bala, Babu-are still under the custody of the Maoists, while three others- Parsuram Behera, Lingaraj Majhi, Hrushi Nayak- had managed to escape from the spot after being informed by the villagers about the Maoist action.
"22 Maoist cadres were involved in abduction. They threatened us against participation in poll process", said Praveen Soren, Kaminikant Se.
“While I was sleeping at around 7.30 am yesterday, one woman and three men asked me to come out of the room wearing dress. Later, they took us to Gorasetu village,” said Praveen Soren.
Meanwhile District Engineers’ Association has vehemently protested against the incident. The association has said they will not do any poll duties if they are not provided adequate security.
Rajnikanta Panigrahi, president of Malkangiri Engineers’ Association said, “We have demanded adequate security for us for panchayat poll duties. The collector has written to the Governor in this regard and assured us to provide security. If they fail to do so, we will not do any poll duties.”
S Saini, DIG South-western range, quoted the statements of the poll officials.
"The two election officials came in police contact today. They said that they were detained by Maoaist at Gora Setu village. More three gram panchayat officials were also detained along with them. As per their statement, the ultras asked them about election matter and urged them to support their call for poll boycott", Saini said.
The details will be known after inquiry is over, she added.
Hours after the report of abduction, Malkangiri SDPO Rahul PR dubbed the report fake yesterday.
Also read: Poll officials safe, abduction report fake: Police
"There is no substance of Maoists kidnapping the officials. This is a rumour and based on fake information. Investigation is underway on it. Three of the five officials have returned while two are on their way. All are safe”, Malkangiri SDPO Rahul PR had said.
“There is no report of Maoist threat to them. I think they might have left the office as no nomination papers are scheduled to be filed in the next two days due to holidays”, he had added.
According to sources, as per directive from All India Congress Committee (AICC), the Odisha Congress will outline plans for its protest at districts across the state.
Apart from this, Congress is likely to prepare strategies for the ensuing panchayat polls at the meeting which will be attended by all district presidents, sources added.
Also read: Congress threatens to hurl egg at CM Naveen
Meanwhile, Congress chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati has alleged that no party MLAs have been invited to the meeting.
Stating that broadcasting of these advertisements amount to violation of the model code of conduct, the SEC asked Union ministries of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Drinking water and Sanitation to stop further issue of advertisements related to Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in local TV channels, an official release said.
Following the complaint lodged by BJD on December 29, the commission issued the direction.
Similalry, State BJP had also moved to the Commission earlier. Based on the complaint of the State unit of Saffron party, the SEC directed all district collectors to stop disbursement of Aina booklets at public distribution system (PDS) stores. The booklet issued by the state Information and Public relations department contains information about populist schemes of the state government.
Party sources said the move is to make the panchayat raj system more transparent and people friendly. Based on the expectation of the people residing in rural areas, the Congress will make the manifesto.
"Congress always believes in a transparent and accountable panchayat raj system. For a successful implementation of the belief, we have sought opinion from the public. Based on people's views, our party will prepare the poll manifesto for the upcoming panchayat elections", Sulochana Das said.
People can mail their opinion to odishapradeshcongress2016@gmail.com or send letters to Congress Bhawan, Bhubaneswar-9.
The chief minister held discussions with leaders and observers of Koraput, Rayagada, Gajapati and Mayurbhanj districts to chalk out plans for the panchayat polls.
Talking to media persons after the meeting, Panchayati Raj minister and observer of Mayurbhanj district Arun Sahu said party organisation is a continuous process. “As BJD always believes in party organisation and reaching out to the people to win their trust, the chief minister directed to carry on the process”, he added.
Minister Sudam Marandi said the chief minister asked the leaders to go to the grassroots and get the feedback from the people as to whether the welfare programmes of the state government is properly implemented. Besides, he also asked the party men to coordinate with the district officials to ensure that the people in rural areas are benefited by these programmes.
Jayaram Pangi, Koraput District BJD president, who was also present in the meeting, said a decision has been taken to form a 7-member committee in each Zilla Parishad zone which will select the candidates. “Apart from this, a 7-member committee has also been formed at the panchayat level to select candidates for selection of candidates for ward member, sarpanch and samiti member”, he pointed out.
At Naveen Niwas, chief minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik held discussions with leaders and observers of five organisational districts (Kalahandi, Nuapada, Bolangir, Balasore and Bhadrak) today to chalk out plans for the panchayat polls, scheduled to be held in February next year.
The regional party would prepare a blueprint for the election after the meet with party's observers, MLAs, MPs and other leaders, sources said.
Talking to media, party's senior leader and Athgarh legislator Ranendra Pratap Swain said, "We want to focus on how to organise booths in all the districts. Besides we need strong co-ordination among the leaders to win the polls."
Former minister and Surya Narayan Patro said,"Our poll strategy will be based on two categories. One- in the seats we have been winning since years and the seats in which our party is weak. We need to focus on the developmental works in these areas."
Bolangir MP Kalikesh Narayan Singhdeo stated that the party, before the polls, will highlight the major issues which it has taken up with the Centre for the interest of the State. "We need to strengthen the organisation and take all the social welfare schemes to grassroots level."
The purpose of these kendras will be to reach out to the people and spread the success story of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre besides highlighting the failures of the BJD government in the State.
After a meeting of district level party office bearers here, Prithviraj Harichandan, General Secretary, State BJP, said, “They (activists at the kendras) will apprise the people of the achievements of the NDA government. At the same time, they will create awareness among people about the BJD’s negligence towards them and its failure to spend Central funds.”
Meanwhile, refuting the BJP's charges, Amar Prasad Satpathy, BJD spokesperson, said, “After the election process got over in 2014, we reached out to people and made them aware through the Jana Sampark Yatra held on the occasion of Biju Babu’s birth centenary celebration. People know and realisel what is going on. We need not worry.”
The State Election Commission said the polling percentage was 73 at the end of voting hours, though the numbers would go up since 4.5 lakh voters were still queued up across the state.
"We have, so far, received telephonic complaints of six deaths. We are awaiting written confirmation from authorities on the death toll," State Election Commission Secretary Nilanjan Shandilya told IANS.
A youth was beaten to death as he tried to enter a polling premises in Nadia district while a Trinamool Congress activist was shot dead in South 24 Parganas district's Kultali, police said.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist claimed one of their activists was killed in bomb attacks in North 24 Parganas district's Amdanga.
Three deaths were reported from Murshidabad while two were killed in East Midnapore's Nandigram. Two persons lost their lives in Nadia and North Dinajpur districts.
"Three youths were beaten up by locals in Nadia district's Shantipur area on Monday morning. Police rescued and got them admitted to a local hospital. One of them, Sanjit Pramanik, succumbed to his injuries," Nadia district Superintendent of Police Santosh Pandey told IANS.
"Trinamool Congress worker Arif Ali Gazi was shot in the chest while coming out of a polling booth. He died in a hospital," an officer from Kultali police station said.
Though CPI-M's North 24 Parganas leaders claimed their party activist died in Amdanga after he was attacked with crude bombs, there was no police confirmation.
"We have heard of the incident but it is not confirmed yet. We are going to the spot," an officer from Amdanga police station said.
Police sources said two people were shot in East Midnapore district's Nandigram, famous for its historic land movement against the erstwhile Left Front government. The CPI-M claimed the two dead were party activists.
At least seven persons sustained bullet injuries in Murshidabad's Naoda area, leading to the death of one of them. The remaining were admitted in the district hospital.
Earlier, polling to elect 38,616 representatives in the three tiers of Panchayati Raj institutions -- panchayats, panchayat samitis and zila parishads -- started at 7 a.m.
As the day progressed, reports of clashes, booth capturing, vandalising of ballot boxes and rigging were received from pockets of South and North 24 Parganas, North Dinajpur, Nadia, West Midnapore and Cooch Behar districts.
In several places, gun-toting goons attacked policemen on duty at polling premises, leaving at least two police officers severely injured.
In South 24 Parganas' Bhangar, the 'Jomi, Jibika, Bastutantra O Poribesh Raksha Committee' (Committee for protecting land, livelihood, ecology and environment), which is spearheading an anti-power grid movement in the area, accused armed miscreants of the Trinamool Congress of kidnapping their Panchayat Samiti candidate Sariful Mullick and terrorising voters.
The committee alleged that their candidate Entazul Khan was severely injured in an attack by Trinamool Congress-backed miscreants and was taken to Kolkata's RG Kar Hospital.
In north Bengal's Cooch Behar, Minister Rabindranath Ghosh was accused of slapping a Bharatiya Janata Party polling agent and forcing him out of the polling premises, following which the SEC sought a report from the district administration.
The Minister, however, denied all allegations and accused the BJP agent of trying to run away with the ballot box.
Violence also took place in East Midnapore district's Panskura and West Midnapore district's Keshpur where gun-toting miscreants gathered outside the polling stations and beat up voters.
Several attempts to rig the election process were also reported across the state as miscreants poured water into ballot boxes or set them on fire.
Initially, voting for the rural bodies was to be held on May 1, 3 and 5 but as the nomination process started in April, it was rescheduled to May 14 by the SEC following a Calcutta High Court order to extend the nomination deadline and announce a fresh polling date.
Statistics reveal that of the total 58,692 seats in the three tiers of the rural local bodies, 20,076 seats, or 34.2 per cent, have been decided uncontested, with the Trinamool bagging a whopping proportion of these seats.
These include 16,814 of the total 48,650 gram panchayats seats, 3,059 of the 9,217 panchayat samiti seats and 203 of the 825 zila parishad seats.
The Supreme Court has now asked the SEC not to issue winning certificates in these seats.
"The party president would meet grass-root level leaders starting from Sarpanch, Samiti members and Zilla Parishad members. The exercise would start from Jajpur district on April 2," said BJD spokesman Amar Prasad Satapathy.
Asked if Patnaik's meeting with grass root level leaders was called in the wake of Shah's proposed interaction with booth level leaders sometime in April, Satapathy said, "Patnaik will only discuss on how to make people aware of various developmental programmes of the Government."
He said Patnaik would meet grass root level leaders of various districts on different dates.
On April 2, the BJD chief would meet leaders of Jajpur district first and then those of Koraput district.
No MLAs or MPs would be present in those meetings.
Patnaik, who for the first time invited grass root level leaders for discussion, will enquire reasons of defeat of BJD candidates in certain areas, party insiders said adding that he was worried about the party losing around 180 Zilla Parishad seats in the recent Panchayat election.
Though the BJD claimed that party candidates have captured about 72 per cent of the state's 314 blocks and maintained its status of being the single largest party in Odisha, the leadership was worried as BJP has won 297 Zilla Parishad seats in this year's rural polls compared to its previous performance of 36 Zilla Parishad seats in 2012.
Party insiders said Patnaik was expected to know from grass root level leaders on how BJD could improve and why BJP rose substantially in Zilla Parishad level.
The regional party is in power since 2000.
The 65-year-old man and 11 others were injured in a clash between two groups at Bramhanchhai in Hinjili Assembly segment on February 20, while one person was killed.
The man identified as Dandapani Pradhan was discharged from the hospital recently and undergoing treatment at home where he succumbed.
State Election Commission (SEC) had postponed the panchayat election in Bramhanchhai panchayat, scheduled to held on February 21, due to law and order problem following the incident.
Police said they had already arrested 31 persons in connection with the clash.
While 'bijli-sadak-pani' are common demands in most parts of the state, people in the coastal district of Kendrapara are asking whether the ponzi firm operators would be punished.
The candidates contesting right from ward member's post to that of the member of zilla parishad are contending with queries from chit fund deceived voters.
"We are asked when will the investors (in chit funds) get back their hard-earned money," said a candidate of the ruling BJD contesting for the zilla parishad.
We lost money to fraud companies. The government promised us that the money would be paid back to us. But nothing has been done as yet. Now the candidates are visiting our houses seeking votes. They are giving their own versions and promising to fight for the people," said Swarnalata Swain, a voter from Mangalpur village who lost her life's savings of Rs 16 lakh in the scam.
She was echoed by many others who claimed that they are running from pillar to post to get back their money from the ponzi companies.
Jayant Kumar Pradhan, resident of Chotti village in the district said, "I was defrauded of Rs 12 lakh two years ago by a chit fund company. Despite the commission of inquiry and legal crackdown on chit fund scam I have not received a single paisa till date. I had asked the panchayat election candidates when they came to canvass," he said.
Also read: Dharmendra kicks off Panchayat poll campaign in Odisha
Minati Hansda, a contestant from zone 13 of the zilla parishad said a large number of people from Palei village who lost their money to a fake financial company aired their grievances during her campaign.
"If elected I will take up the matter with the district administration," she added.
Manorama Sahu from zone 12 of zilla parishad said "If people elect me I will fight for the investors in my capacity as a zilla parishad member."
The administration has issued advisories to panchayatiraj institutions for creating awareness on risk involved in investing in dubious chit funds and financial companies, said Kendrapara collector Muralidhar Mallick.
The usually-sleepy railway stations of Berhampur, Keshapur and Chhatrapur are suddenly seeing a surge in passengers alighting from Okha-Puri and Ahmedabad-Puri Express trains.
Close to eight lakh people from the district work at various industries, particularly in textile mills, in Gujarat.
"We are going home to vote in the panchayat election," a group of Polsara-bound youth said as they waited at the bus stand in the city.
"One of my friends is running for the post of sarapanch in Beguniapoada block. I have come to cast my vote at the polls," said Bipra Charan Gouda of Kodala village.
Kalu Pradhan, who works at a diamond cutting factory in Ahmedabad, said his sister is contesting for the post of the samiti member in Sorda block panchayat.
The home-bound workers, however, denied rumours that their train fair was paid by the candidates.
"It is not true. Since many of our friends and relatives are contesting in the panchayat elections we are going home to cast our votes in support of them," one of the workers travelling in a group said.
Also read: Congress to hold march to highlight migrant workers' plight
The sudden influx of the people in the rural areas also posed a headache for police. They fear their presence in large numbers might trigger tension in poll-bound villages.
"We will take precautionary measures for trouble-free elections," a senior police officer said.
Elections for the posts of 69 zilla parishad, 5,503 sarpanch and samiti members and 7,001 ward members in the district will be held in five phases between February 13 and 21.
Kendrapara: The Congress today lodged an FIR against the Kendrapara MLA and the Pattamundai BDO alleging that they hatched a "conspiracy" to deprive two Dalit women from contesting the upcoming panchayat polls in the State.
"Democracy is being butchered in Kendrapara. The election officers in charge of conducting free-and-fair polls have formed an unholy alliance with the BJD to ensure the victory of candidates who owe their allegiance to the ruling party," alleged senior Congress leader Ganeswar Behera.
He claimed that Gayatri Sethy and Pramila Mallik, who had filed nominations from Penthapala panchayat samity in Pattamundai block, were declared to have withdrawn from the contest, adding that the two Dalit women never applied for withdrawal.
Behera claimed that there was a "deep conspiracy" as Babita Tarai, spouse of BJD MLA Kishore Tarai, was in the fray from Penthapala and with both of her rivals not being in the contest anymore, she was poised to be declared won unopposed.
"As Mallik and Sethy never submitted their withdrawal papers, how could they be shown to have withdrawn from the polls?" he questioned.
The Congress leader said as per sub section-15 of Rule-11 of Gram Panchayat Rules 1991, "a validly nominated candidate contesting for the member of panchayat samity may withdraw his or her candidature by presenting a written application in form no. 10 to the election officer".
However, Mallik and Sethy never did so, Behera claimed and alleged that the BDO might have "forged" the specimen signatures of both the contestants.
"We have taken up the matter with the Collector and a complaint has been lodged with the State Election Commission.
The Congress will stage an indefinite agitation in front of the block office if both the contestants are not declared valid to contest the polls," he said.
When asked about the allegations, Kendrapara Collector Muralidhar Mallik said, "The complaint lodged by Congress leader Behera is being looked into. The administration is intent on conducting the three-tier panchayat polls in a free-and-fair manner."
Nihar Ranjan Beura (50), an alumni of IIT Kharagpur has set his goal to transform the life of the villagers.
"I filed nomination papers for member panchayat samity from my native Dumuka gram panchayat today. I have earned money and fame. There is a general perception that people get involved in politics to earn money. But I have pledged to prove it wrong," he said.
Beura did his M Tech in industrial engineering and management from IIT Kharagapur. After having worked in multinational companies in the US, Germany, the UK, France, the Netherlands and Denmark, he has now set up a dairy farm in his village from where locals can buy pure milk at a cheaper rate.
"I was born and brought up in Dumuka. Time has come to pay back to my ancestral village. It is everyone's duty to give back to the society which has contributed to one's success," Beura said.
"Despite generous flow of government funds, my village failed to march in the path of progress. If people elect me, I will try my level best to give a facelift to the agrarian economy of the gram panchayat," he said
Villagers, mostly unemployed youths, said for the last two years Beura has been providing career counselling to job-seekers.
"We feel he will serve the village better," an unemployed youth said.
"I have seen poverty and hunger since childhood. I lost my father and elder brother to the 1996 cyclone. My mother brought me up amid much hardship," Beura said, adding, "When was well-established and drawing a fat salary, I made up mind to go back to my roots and serve my village."
Sushant Kumar Jena, a resident of the village said, "Unless honest and educated people enter politics, the same age-old corrupt system will continue. We elected representatives in the past, but they siphoned off development grants. We hope Beura will bring in a refreshing change."
"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.
Just for the heck of it, I posted this poser on my Facebook wall last evening: “Shall we ever see Naveen Patnaik gracing the Opposition benches?” The responses started coming in a torrent and have not stopped even now, numbering 45 at the last count. But what was noteworthy was that not even one of the respondents believed he would assume the Opposition leader’s chair in the Assembly in the unlikely and hypothetical event of his party losing the next election. The consensus view was that he would simply leave Odisha and ‘flee’ to Delhi or find a ‘Palani’ or ‘Panneer’ for the job while he continued to call the shots in the party!
Though not on a public platform, I have posed this question to friends, fellow journalists and others earlier too and the response has always been the same; the day he loses an election, he would shun the party or retire from politics altogether and go back to Delhi where he came from. I have a hunch that the response to this poser would be no different if it is placed before an audience much larger than my list of friends and acquaintances, taking care to include all sections of people in the list of respondents.
This has often got me thinking. Does this near-unanimous view mean that we, the people of Odisha, have reposed our unequivocal trust and kept voting for a person for an unprecedented four successive terms as the Chief Minister knowing full well that he would ‘flee’ the state at the first available opportunity, I have wondered. And this is a man who has always claimed he is not interested in a larger role in national politics because he is ‘happy serving the four crore people of my state’!
If what the people think about Naveen’s post-defeat move is right, then he would go down in history as the first Indian politician who never spent a day in the Opposition. [This will be another ‘feather’ in the cap of a man, who already has the rather unenviable record of being the only Chief Minister in the country who does not speak the language of the state – even after four terms!]
I can understand the logic behind the perception of those who have taken the trouble of sharing their thoughts and views on the issue. After all, Naveen Patnaik is the quintessential aristocrat in politics, standing tall over all others while his minions do the ‘dirty’ job of running the state and the party. He is a rare politician who has fiercely guarded his privacy – so much so that even the Prime Minister of the country had trouble getting through to him in October last year after news broke about the massive fire in SUM hospital that killed 30. Party insiders say he completely switches himself off from the world after 8 PM to retire to his private space inside the fortress-like Naveen Nivas. He must also be among the few Chief Minister who has rarely spent a night outside Bhubaneswar in 17 uninterrupted years at the helm of the state government. Why would a man who cannot sit through the proceedings of the Assembly for five minutes at a stretch and routinely gets his ministers to answer questions asked about his departments, goes the argument, take up the thankless job of an Opposition leader where he would not have the luxury of having someone else leading on his behalf?
But I have a slightly different take on the issue. Even if he himself is keen to chuck it up all and ‘flee’ to Delhi, will he actually be allowed to do so by his party? It is true that Naveen did not come to politics or Odisha of his own volition. But can he now shun both and ‘flee’ to Delhi just like that? Politics is a bit like riding a tiger; there is no getting off even if you want to. Even if he manages to dodge his party leaders and workers after losing the election, the next government (of whichever party or combination of parties it is) would hardly be expected to allow him the luxury of quietly walking into the sunset. If anything, it can be trusted to dust off old files and do everything it can to make life miserable for him.
I started with a poser and will end with a poser. Is a man who only knows how to swim with the current but chickens out at the prospect of having to swim against the current worth persisting with?
Come election time and suddenly, cine stars are in great demand. As per a well-established tradition, the most sought after among them invariably head for the party in power with the opposition having to make do with second and third rung stars and starlets from tinsel town. It was no different when yesteryear superstar Uttam Mohanty and the former Bad Man of Odia screen Asit Pati joined the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) at Naveen Nivas, the de facto party office, in the presence of party supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday morning.
But does it really help the parties? There is no empirical study that tells us whether - and to what extent - the entry of stars/starlets contributes to the electoral fortunes of a party. So, the best that one can do is to go by anecdotal evidence and diligent observation. Let us consider the case of the ruling party’s two latest recruits. Uttam Mohanty certainly ruled the Odia screens for years and retains some star power even now. But can he really sway a voter and make him vote for the BJD in the upcoming panchayat polls on the strength of his star power? The answer has to be an emphatic ‘No’. As for his fellow Baripada actor Asit Pati, his acting career – at least in films – is as good as over.
In the case of Uttam Mohanty, however, there are uncharitable suggestions that it was more a case of the star chasing the ruling party to get a respite from the investigation into Oscar chit fund scam than the other way round. His long association with the Congress apparently did not come in the way of his entry into the BJD. But having burnt its fingers with popular comic actor Papu Pom Pom, who has also been under the scanner for his links with the tainted company, why would the BJD welcome Uttam and present a handle to the Opposition to beat itself with? [And sure enough, the Congress and the BJP have done precisely that!]
Also read: Time to raid BJD leaders was two years back, not now
To return to the question that we began with: why do parties run after stars – present or past – especially on the eve of elections? What exactly do they bring on board in a party that has sailed through five successive Parliamentary elections and four consecutive Assembly elections on the sheer strength of Naveen Patnaik’s charisma? Precious little - except to provide some temporary excitement and talking to the people during campaigning – I dare say.
My guess is that in doing so, they basically seek to cash in on the stars’ glamour quotient which in itself may not win an election but can add to the overall appeal of a party or its candidate. It can prove to be a force multiplier, the proverbial icing on the cake. Perhaps that is why the ruling party has lined up a whole galaxy of stars: Siddhanta Mohapatra, Anubhav Mohanty, Prashanta Nanda (via the BJP and NCP), Akash Dasnayak, Arindam Ray and the like. The BJP boasts of Sritam Das, Pinki Pradhan and Pintu Nanda while the Congress has the likes of Bijay Mohanty and Aparajita Mohanty in its ranks.
Also read: Can the BJD outlive Naveen?
But then a distinction has to be made between stars who are roped in for their glamour and appeal to be used for electoral dividends and those who are actually fielded as candidates in elections. The considerations are entirely different in the two cases. Apart from star power, winnability is a major factor that influences decisions to field a star in the electoral fray. Election after election has proved that star power is never enough to ensure a win and crowd-pullers don’t necessarily emerge winners. Had that been the case, Papu Pom Pom would not have come a poor third in Champua in the last election despite a pan-Odisha Naveen wave in the 2014 Assembly polls. Conversely, it is doubtful if Siddhanta would have won his second successive Lok Sabha election from Berhampur had it not been for the ‘star power’ of the BJD supremo.
Then there are situations when the shenanigans of a star embarrass a party as in the case of Papu Pom Pom. As if the allegation of his involvement in the Oscar scam was not enough, the comedian was also accused of ‘casting couch’ by an underage wannabe actress. As the initial Opposition reaction to Uttam’s entry into BJD suggests, the party often has to answer charges on behalf of a star it has chosen to admit into the party fold. ‘Star power’ thus cuts both ways!