BJD faces problem of plenty in Ganjam

Berhampur: With several aspirants willing to contest, the BJD in Ganjam district is facing an uphill task to select candidates for the ensuing three-tier panchayat elections to be held next month.
While the zilla parishad election will be held with party symbols, the poll for the sarpanch, samiti members and ward members’ posts will be held without it. Total 503 sarpanch and the same number of samiti members, 69 zilla parishad members and over 7,100 ward members the highest number of panchayat representatives in the state will be elected in Ganjam district in the five-phase elections scheduled to start on February 16.
On Friday, a faction of BJD workers opened a party office in Khallikote assembly constituency, revolting against local MLA Suryamani Baidya.The workers claimed that they have the “blessings of chief minister Naveen Patnaik and former Khallikote MLA Sugyan Kumari Deo”, and therefore, they would field candidates in all panchayats.
The BJD’s Ganjam district unit president Ramesh Chandra Chauptanik said the party high command will make the final selection of candidates for different posts.