ROURKELA: Ward 4 of the Sundargarh Municipality has been reserved for Scheduled Tribe women but surprisingly, not a single tribal family resides there, thereby putting the political parties in a fix.
With the nomination filing for urban local body (ULB) polls ending on Monday, the BJD has finalised Sweta Sefali Mundu, an ST woman from the adjacent Ward 5. The BJP and Congress are still scouting for suitable candidates to contest from Ward 4.
Sources said Ward 4 comprising Brahmanpada locality has around 914 voters among but not a single tribal. As per the guidelines for reservation of Wards on rotation basis, Ward 4 is reserved for ST women this time.
Former BJD chairperson of Sundargarh municipality Benudhar Tandia said with no tribal candidate available, the ruling party has finalised Sweta’s name to contest from Ward 4. Sweta resides at the border of Wards 4 and 5. “Non-availability of ST women candidates in Ward 4 has created a practical problem for all the political parties. The Housing and Urban Development department needs to take note of the problem arising out of rotational reservation and find some practical remedy for it,” he said.
President of Sundargarh district Congress committee Benu Madhav Tripathy claimed that before finalisation of reservation of Wards, the party had raised objection for Ward 4, but it went unheeded. The Congress would also field an ST woman candidate from some other place in Ward 4 as it cannot give a walkover to rivals BJD and BJP. Sources said voters of a particular Ward will most likely prefer to vote for candidates of their locality instead of unfamiliar faces.
Project director of district urban development agency and election officer Rita Dang said she is unaware of the issue and declined to comment further.