BJD Block Chairperson Loses No-Trust Vote In Odisha’s Dhenkanal

Dhenkanal: In a fresh jolt to Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha, party’s chairperson of Dhenkanal Sadar block Rajashree Nayak on Saturday lost a no-confidence motion brought against her.

The sarpanches and samiti members of 30 panchayats, Sadar MLA, Kamakshyanagar MLA and Dhenkanal MP participated in the vote. Of the 62 votes polled, 44 went against the chairperson. She needed 42 votes to sail through, said an official. While 17 voted in her favour, one vote was rejected.

“A total of 62 voters participated in the voting, which was carried out as per the law. In the voting, 44 voters voted in support of the no-confidence motion, and 17 against it. We discarded one vote as the voter marked on both. Accordingly, we announced the result,” Tehsildar and returning officer Litusmita Mishra said.

Notably, some panchayat samiti members had last week moved a no-confidence motion against chairperson Rajshree Nayak before the sub-collector. All the samiti members and sarpanches were in unknown places for 15 days, sources said.

Voting on the no-confidence motion was held at the block office. Minister Krushna Chandra Patra, MP Rudranarayan Pani, and Kamakhyanagar MLA Satrughna Jena participated in the voting process.

After the BJD chairperson’s defeat in the no-trust vote, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Krushna Chandra Patra claimed that the regional party is disintegrating as it lacks a dynamic leader. While BJD leaders are fighting among themselves, workers are getting demoralised in the regional party. People are also losing faith in the regional party which will cease to exist, Patra claimed.

For the time being, the vice chairman of the block, Kalandi Barik will be in charge of the chairperson post, sources said.