BARIPADA: Residents of Pratapur gram panchayat (GP) under Badasahi block on Sunday alleged that sarpanch candidate Ganesh Chandra Rout, who filed his nomination as an ST candidate happens to be from the Other Backward Castes (OBC).
The matter apparently came to light during the verification of documents on Saturday. Soon after, some villagers filed a petition before block development officer (BDO ) Akash Panda. They demanded an inquiry into the matter and strong action against Rout for producing a fake certificate.
Pratapur GP is reserved for ST males for the rural poll this year and it comes under Zone no-22. Petitioners Gour Mohan Singh, Hari Shankar Naik, and Ganesh Hembram claimed that land Patta and other officials documents of Rout’s father and forefathers prove that he belongs to Bagal caste which comes under OBC.
Since Rout filed his nomination for the sarpanch post as an ST candidate, villagers wanted to know how the ST certificate was issued to him without verification of his documents.
They also decided to meet Collector Vineet Bhardwaj and submit a petition in this connection on Monday. Sources said Badasahi tehsildar Mamtaj Moharana confirmed the OBC status of the Bagal community to which Rout originally belongs.
The candidate, however, was unreachable for his comment, despite multiple attempts. Contacted, Badasahi BDO Akash Panda said,” I have directed the panchayat election officer to get details of the documents submitted by the candidate and inquire into the matter. Necessary action will be taken if any discrepancy is found.”