Jajpur: 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.
The BJP candidate, Bhaskar Chandra Jena had filed his nomination papers for the Zilla Parishad post from zone 2. But, without informing the party officials, he withdrew his nomination citing health gounds.
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. Though Bhaskar’s step has come as a shock for the BJP leadership as he is a senior leader of the area, he has been suspended from membership of the party.
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.
While 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.
