Bargarh: With the three-tier panchayat elections coming to an end, leaders of various political parties have started calculating their winning possibilities in 34 zilla parishad (ZP) zones and 12 panchayat samitis in the district.
ZP chairperson, block chairpersons and vice chairpersons will be elected by the party in commanding position on the basis of the winning strength.
Now, potential aspirants for the posts of chairpersons and vice chairpersons of ZP, panchayat samiti and naib sarpanchs have started lobbying before the top party leaders at the district and state levels.
As part of the strategy, some samiti members having winning potential have reportedly gone underground before elections to the posts of block chairpersons and vice chairpersons.
Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is hopeful of forming ZP and panchayat samitis in the district, as all the Assembly segments of the district have been under the ruling party MLAs. In 2017, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had formed the ZP.
This time too, the saffron party has not given up hopes to win maximum number of ZP seats and form the ZP, even though the ruling party has its political clout and base in all the Assembly constituencies.
The post of ZP chairperson has been unreserved. Hence, the lists of hopefuls from the ruling party and the saffron party are long. Some leaders of the Congress are also in the race of lobbying, it is said.
Meanwhile, the block and district level leadership of BJD and BJP have been weighing on the leadership of some able leaders for posts of ZP chairperson, vice chairperson, block chairpersons and vice chairpersons.
Some MLAs have started lobbying for their loyal leaders for the posts of ZP and samiti chiefs to have their clout in the district. There are 12 blocks and 34 ZP seats in the district.
Six posts of block chairperson each have been reserved for men and women. Attabira and Bheden blocks are reserved for SC (women) and Bargarh for SC.
Jharbandh, Paikamal, Barpalli and Sohela blocks are reserved for women while Ambabhona, Gaisilet, Bijepur and Bhatli blocks are unreserved. Interestingly, most of the samiti members in all these blocks are missing from the scene.
They will hold the key for elections to the block chairpersons and vice chairpersons. Similarly, there are several hopefuls in the two major parties for the post of ZP chairperson.
PNN