BHUBANESWAR: Election to Dhinkia gram panchayat in Jagatsinghpur district will not be held now as the terms of the sarpanch and 23 ward members are yet to be over.
The gram panchayat has been in news for villagers’ agitation against the proposed steel plant project of JSW and alleged police lathicharge on them.
Election to Dhinkia was delayed by over two years and held on May 27, 2019 because of the agitation against the Posco steel project which was ultimately abandoned by the company.
However, BJD candidate Kishore Chandra Parida had bagged the sarpanch post and the regional party had won a majority of ward members posts. Sources in the SEC said that election to Dhinkia will be held in May, 2024.
Meanwhile, a record number of 2.29 lakh candidates have filed their nomination papers. Highest number of 14,666 candidates have filed their papers from Mayurbhanj district followed by 14,454 from Cuttack.
According to information released by the SEC, the highest number of 2,196 candidates have filed papers for the post of sarpanch from 503 gram panchayats in the district.