4 file papers for ‘auctioned’ sarpanch post in Balangir

Bhubaneswar: At least four persons filed nomination papers on Friday for the post of sarpanch in Bilaisarda panchayat in Balangir district which some influential villagers had allegedly tried to auction it to the highest bidder.
Sushant Chhatria, the man who had won the auction for the sarpanch post, and one of his nephews also filed the papers.
The other two candidates are Bilasini Sharma, who had filed the nomination on Wednesday, and Prabhudatta Panda.Friday was the last date for filing of nominations for the three-tier panchayat elections.
The State Election Commission (SEC) on Thursday had directed the Balangir collector to ensure that no willing person is obstructed/ dissuaded from filling nomination for the post of sarpanch in Bilaisarda.
The direction came after the submission of a report by the collector to the SEC regarding auction of the sarpanch post for an amount of Rs 44.10 lakh. Some influential villagers of Bilaisarda had tried to auction the post.
A three-member team had visited the village following the complaint of auction. They had recorded the statements of persons present during the auction meeting on Saturday, including Chhatria.
Chhatria along with some people of the village had conducted a meeting where they selected him as their sarpanch and agreed that none from Bilaisarda would stand against him.
The villagers said they would have spent the amount (that was to be given by Chhatria) for facelift of the Jagannath temple.