Bhubaneswar: The organisational elections of the main opposition party in Odisha, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), will be completed before Odia New Year, party leader Pradip Kumar Amat said on Monday.
Speaking to the media, Amat said that Aul MLA Pratap Keshari Deb, appointed as the state returning officer, briefed senior leaders regarding the timeline for the elections at district & state levels during the coordination committee meeting held under the chairmanship of Debi Prasad Mishra as per the directions of BJD President Naveen Patnaik.
He said the process for organisational polls to be held in four phases has begun following consultations with constituency-wise and district-wise leaders of the party. “District returning officers will be appointed in the first week of February, followed by assistant returning officer (ARO) and other functionaries. The entire process to elect members to all executive committees and state councils will be completed within the first week of April or before the traditional Odia New Year,” he said.
He further stated that the newly-elected members of the executive committees and state councils will later elect the party president.
The senior BJD leader also dismissed claim of rebellion in the party. ” There are no differences between senior and junior leaders and everyone is working towards taking the party forward,” he added.
On January 25, the party had dissolved all the state-level frontal organisations such as Biju Mahila Janata Dal, Biju Yuva Janata Dal, Biju Chhatra Janata Dal, Biju Shramika Samukhya, Legal Cell, Apravasi Cell in view of the forthcoming Organisational election of BJD.
The meeting, which was attended by members of different advisory committees of the party, including Prasanna Acharya, Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Pramila Mallik, and 13 members of the coordination committee, also took stock of the political scenario in the state. Other BJD leaders also participated through virtual mode.
