Sundergarh, Feb 12: It’s for the people, of the people and by the people, what’s is Democracy is all about. And for the first time in Odisha Panchayat Election, this has happened in an unique way though. The Malupada villagers under Kutra gram panchayat in Sundargarh district have organised a written exam for 8 Sarpanch candidates ontesting for the upcoming three tier Panchayat Poll here.
As campaigns are underway for the panchayat polls in Odisha, the voters at Malupada decided to test the Sarpanch candidates to decide who among them is/are best suitable.
The questions set by the Village Committee were like:
What are your 5 goals of being a Sarpanch candidate?
If elected as Sarpanch, what are your goals for the next 5 years?
How many villages, wards and people are there in the gram panchayat?
and, Describe the previous Sarpanch.
Interestingly, the contestants also whole-heartedly accepted the move by the villagers. Out of the 9 Sarpanch candidates, 8 appeared the written examination. However, only three candidates cleared the examination.
Finally, the villagers have decided to vote for the three candidates who passed the exam. Each villager will decide on his or her personal level on who to vote among the three.
