Nabarangpur: Residents of several wards under Nabarangpur municipality have decided to vote for candidates who can assure them of sorting out unresolved issues, a report said. Sources said there are 17 wards (29 booths) in Nabarangpur municipality. A total of 24,785 voters will exercise their franchise in the upcoming urban local body polls while candidates in the fray have stepped up their door-to-door campaigning.
Grapevine is that voters in Ward-8 may change the political equation this time. The councillor seat in this ward has been reserved for scheduled tribe (women). The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) had fielded Santoshi Jani while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has given ticket to Amaji Tirkey. The fight will be between the BJD and the BJP while the Congress candidate is not expected to win.
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This ward is the most populous with 2,147 voters who will cast their votes. People of Medirisahi and Dandasisahi are upset over poor drainage. “For over 30 years, drains have not been cleared. Piles of garbage can be found everywhere. The sanitation is poor. No one removes garbage. In monsoon, overflowing drains are a common sight. We have to suffer a lot. But these issues have not been resolved till date,” locals said.
Roads are in bad shape while no step is being taken to repair them, they lamented.
“We will discuss the issues with the candidates. Image and credibility of the candidates will be taken into consideration before we cast our votes,” they added.
However, both the BJD and BJP candidates have been campaigning with all their might.