More than half of zilla parishad members in Ganjam are women

Berhampur: More number of women than the quota resreserved for them have been elected zilla parishad members in Ganjam, the home district of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, in the three-tier panchayat elections.
Forty of total 69 candidates have been elected zilla parishad members from different zones across the district. The government has reserved 35 zilla parishad zones (50% of the total zones) for various categories of women.Of them, seven were reserved for scheduled caste, two for scheduled tribe and the rest 26 for general category.
In the 2017 panchayat elections, women had been elected in 35 of total 69 zones in the district.
“All the newly elected women zilla parishad members belong to the ruling BJD. We fielded 40 women candidates, the highest number, in different zilla parishad zones. All of them won the election,” said Mamata Bisoi, zonal president (Ganjam), Biju Mahila Janata Dal.
Of 69 zones, BJD candidates won 67 zilla parishad zones, while the BJP managed to win two zones (48 in Belaguntha block and 34 in Patrapur block) in the rural polls, held in five phases, from February 16-24.
The BJP and the Congress fielded 38 and 37 women candidates respectively. But all the women candidates of the opposition parties lost. In the last panchayat election, no women candidates were elected zilla parishad member in the district.
Most of the newly elected women zilla parishad members are new faces, sources said. Election to the zilla parishad president post, reserved for women this time, will be held on March 13.