Bhubaneswar: A total of 7,152 candidates have filed their nomination papers for election to various posts in the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). The filing of nominations started March 2 and the last day for filing was Monday. There was a mad rush among candidates of various parties to file their nominations.
According to the State Election Commission (SEC), 693 candidates have submitted their nominations for the post of chairperson and mayor while 6,459 candidates have filed papers for the post of councillors and corporators in the civic bodies.
Monday saw the highest number of nominations being filed with 5,045 candidates have submitting their documents. Of which, 4,541 nominations were filed for councillor/corporator position and remaining 504 for chairperson/mayor post.
In the meanwhile, the mayoral candidates of all three major political parties, BJD, BJP and Congress have filed their nomination for Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), Cuttack Municipal Corporations (CMC) and Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC). Many rebel aspirants of BJD have also filed their nominations as independent candidates.
As per the schedule announced by the SEC, scrutiny of the nomination papers will be done March 9. The candidates can withdraw their nominations till March 14 (excluding government holiday).