Kendrapara: With the three major political parties BJD, BJP and Congress attaching importance to organisational and educational strengths of the candidates for the upcoming three-tier rural polls, 14 Zilla Parishad member contestants in Kendrapara have criminal antecedents, affidavits revealed.
A source said that the upcoming poll is different from the previous ones in many aspects.
Kendrapara has as many as 32 Zilla Parishad zones. Out of a total of 129 contestants for the zones, at least 113 have qualified matriculation or above.
Similarly, the number of crorepati candidates in the district is three, affidavits submitted by them while filing their respective nominations revealed.
Moreover, the independent contestant from zone-8 Sagarika Das lives with her husband and two daughters. Sagarika has mentioned in the affidavit that she has no cash with her.
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BJP candidate of zone-4 Baraha Charan Panda has four police cases against his name.
Likewise, zone-8 independent candidate Santosh Kumar Behera has one criminal case, BJD candidate of zone-10 Satyananda Rout has one, zone-15 BJD candidate Priyadarshini Tarai has one, zone-17 Congress candidate Ajay Kumar Bai has one and BJP candidate from the Jyoti Prakash Pradhan has four cases against his name.
In addition, BJD candidate of zone-20 Subodh Kumar Lenka has two police cases, BJP candidate of zone-24 Prajesh Kumar Nayak two, BJD candidate of zone-25 Durgabati Pradhan two, independent candidate of zone-26 Dipak Kumar Choudhury five and BJD candidate Pratap Kumar Mallick one, BJD candidate of zone-28 Pratap Kumar Behera five and independent candidate Sarojkant Rout one and Congress candidate Khirod Behuria has two cases against him.
PNN