JAJPUR : More than one-fourth of the candidates, who are contesting the Zilla Parishad elections in Jajpur district this time, are graduates, while 16 of the candidates who are in the fray have primary education qualification.
Of the total 141 candidates in the fray for 39 seats of Zilla Parishad spread across 10 blocks in the district, only three of them are post-graduates or equivalent degree holders. Of them, 34 are graduates while 41 of them are intermediates or have diploma degrees.
Around 20 per cent of the candidates contesting the Zilla Parishad zones are matriculates while none of the candidates who are in the fray are illiterates, according to the affidavits furnished by the contestants to the State Election Commission.
While 28 candidates managed to clear HSC examination, 19 contestants from ZP zones have cleared the Class VII examination. While the ruling BJD has fielded 11 graduates and degree holders, Congress and BJP have allotted party tickets to nine and 10 candidates with graduate degree holders, respectively.
While 25 Zilla Parishad candidates are contesting for five seats in Barachana block, the lowest nine candidates are in the fray for three seats in Dangadi block in the district.