Bhubaneswar, Jan 23 (PTI) The nomination papers of 8,648 candidates for the panchayat election was rejected by the State Election Commission (SEC), Odisha, official sources said.
The scrutiny of the nomination papers was done on January 22. During the exercise, 5,544 nominations for Ward Member position, 1,753 nominations for Sarpanch post, 1,119 for Panchayat Samiti Member and 232 Zilla Parishad Members were rejected, the sources said.
With the rejection of 8,648 nominations, the number of valid papers now stands at 2,20,414 for different posts under the three-tier Panchayati raj institutions for which the polling is scheduled to take place in five phases from February 16 to February 24.
The papers were rejected due to various reasons like non-submission of related documents and proper caste certificates and others, officials said here on Sunday.
Of the total 2,20,414 valid papers, 1,56,753 are for the post of Ward Member, 32,860 for Sarpanch, 27,034 for PS Member and 3,767 for Zilla Parishad member.
Candidates can withdraw their nomination up to January 25 and the final list of candidates will be published on January 25, he said, adding that the voters will exercise their franchise from 7 am to 1 pm. Over 2.79 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.
Elections to be held for 1,06,353 posts which comprised 91,913 Ward Members, 6,794 Sarpanchs, 6,793 Panchayat Samiti members and 853 Zilla Parishad members.
Meanwhile, Namita Sagaria, a pregnant woman and an aspirant for the post of Panchayat Samiti member in Nabarangpur district, whose nomination paper for the post of panchayat samiti member from Kamata gram panchayat was rejected, on Sunday launched a dharna in front of the Tentulikhunti Block Office in the district.
Sagaria was told that her nomination was rejected after her caste certificate was found to be invalid. “I will continue dharna even though I am pregnant. The block development officer (BDO) and Tehsildar will be responsible for my health condition,” she said.
“The officials said that my nomination has been rejected on the ground that my caste certificate is not authentic. However, the same caste certificate was issued by the Tehsildar. Prior to this, the Tehsildar and the Revenue Inspector (RI) had visited my house for an enquiry. Now, the BDO is terming my caste certificate as duplicate which is shocking,” she said.
However, Tehsildar Pradeep Kar said that caste certificates are issued on the basis of the caste of the applicant’s father. This apart, an applicant’s present religion is also taken into consideration.
“Sagaria was issued the certificate in which she was declared as an SC candidate. Later, however, after other villagers lodged a written complaint alleging that Sagaria has converted into Christianity, her certificate has been reverted back,” the Tehsildar said.
“A fresh enquiry will be conducted and if she is found to be a Christian, she would be issued an OBC certificate, instead of an SC certificate as per the law,” Kar said.
Tentulikhunti BDO Duryodhan Bhoi, however, said Sagaria’s caste certificate had been cancelled on the basis of the Tehsildar’s report. PTI AAM RG RG
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