Bahanaga: As election to the block chairperson’s post comes closer, the BJD workers and leaders apprehend cross-voting in Bahanaga block of Balasore district.
It is said that horse-trading to gain support of samiti members has started while there are several aspirants from the ruling party for the post.
This has become a cause of concern for the local MLA. Out of 24 gram panchayats in this block, elections were this time held for 23 samiti member posts.
The number of BJD-backed samiti members is 15 while eight samiti members owe allegiance to the BJP.
To win the block chief post, a contestant needs support of at least 12 samiti members. The BJD has the magic number to easily grab the post. But the party is in a tight spot over too many aspirants for the post.
Those who are in the race for the post are former block chairperson Sarat Chandra Raj, Gopalpur samiti member Jogesh Chandra Pati, Nuapur samiti member Udaynarayan Mohapatra and another samiti member Raseswari Mohapatra.
On the other hand, the BJP is trying to cash in on such messy situation in the BJD. The party has decided to allow one samiti member to file nomination.
Raj was earlier in Congress and is now in BJD. In 2017 panchayat elections, the BJD had 11 samiti members, but could not grab the post. The BJP had only three samiti members.
PNN