Jajpur, Jan 25: The BJP faced a jolt in the district as one of its candidates for Zilla Parishad (ZP) member posts withdrew his nomination papers on the last day of the withdrawal schedule on Monday.
Citing health grounds, Bhaskar Chandra Jena had filed his nomination papers for the Zilla Parishad post from zone 2. But, without informing the district BJP officials, he withdrew his nomination.
Condemning the action of Bhaskar, the district president of the party said the ruling BJD had unleashed a reign of terror by threatening the BJP candidates. After Bhaskar’s withdrawal step BJP leadership has suspended him from party membership.
As many as 155 aspirants in the election had filed their nominations for 39 ZP seats in the district and all the nominations were declared valid after scrutiny on Saturday. Out of those, 75 male candidates will contest for 20 Zilla Parishad seats, 80 women are fighting for 19 seats.
According to poll analysts, 25 Zilla Parishad seats will witness a triangular contest among BJD, Congress, and BJP.
