BHUBANESWAR: As chances of holding the urban local body (ULB) elections in the first half of 2020 have receded because of two pending cases in Orissa High Court, the only major event for political parties will be the organisational polls which are going to be over in the next two months.
While search is on for a suitable candidate to succeed Basanta Panda as State unit president of the BJP, the process for organisational elections has already started in BJD.
Though it is certain that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is again going to be unanimously re-elected as the party president, holding the organisational polls at the bottom-level will be a challenge.
As the number of primary members has reached one crore mark as claimed by the party, election for Wards of gram panchayats and ULBs will continue till January 13.
State Electoral Officer of BJD Pratap Deb said the first phase election has already started. Presidents of 6,234 GPs and committee members of Wards besides Wards in urban areas will be elected during the period.
Nearly two lakh representatives will be elected in the first phase as Odisha has over 92,000 wards in rural areas and nearly 1000 urban wards. Holding elections to these large number of bodies in 15 days will be a daunting task.
Deb, however, said elections will be completed in time and election for the post of president and State executive will be held from February 23 to 26.
The second phase polls will be held from January 14 to 29 to elect president and members of the block committees, and president and committee members of NACs.
The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) is also likely to have a new look in January. OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik had recently announced that new office-bearers of the party will be announced. A team from AICC will also visit Odisha to interact with senior party leaders about the new team.
BJP Central team submits report
The Central leadership of BJP on Thursday held second round of consultation with MPs from Odisha in New Delhi for a consensus candidate for State president post.
The two central BJP leaders, who held consultations with members of State core committee of the party are reported to have submitted their report to national working president JP Nadda.
The other central leaders involved in the process are national general secretary in-charge of Odisha Arun Singh and joint general secretary (organisation) Soudan Singh.