Over 36,000 candidates elected uncontested

The SEC announced that candidates were uncontested in 36,523 out of the total 91,890 wards.
Representational image (Express Illustrations)
Representational image (Express Illustrations)

BHUBANESWAR: A record number of candidates has been declared elected uncontested as the State Election Commission notified the candidates list for the panchayat polls on Wednesday.

Candidates in 36,976 seats have won without contest with the majority of posts going to the ruling BJD.
The SEC announced that candidates were uncontested in 36,523 out of the total 91,890 wards. Such large number of candidates had never won the panchayat elections uncontested in the past. Of those who have won the wards uncontested, more than 90 percent are BJD-supported.

Similarly, of the total 6,793 sarpanch posts, 126 candidates have won without any contest. Besides, 326 candidates of the total 6,793 panchayat samiti posts have been elected uncontested.

On the other hand, only one of the 853 zilla parishad (ZP) zones has elected a candidate without contest. The elected candidate Kalpana Pradhan from zone II of Ambabhona block of Bargarh district is from the BJD.

Victory of BJD supported candidates in such a large number of seats has been strongly criticised by the BJP and Congress who alleged that the ruling party resorted to all possible methods including threatening the Opposition nominees to withdraw their nominations.

BJP general secretary Golak Mohapatra alleged that ruling party leaders were given charge at the district-level to manage the withdrawal of candidates.

He further said that a large number of candidates owing allegiance to the BJP were threatened and pressurised to withdraw from the contest.

Over 36K candidates elected uncontested

Congress spokesperson Manoj Mohapatra also alleged that the ruling BJD did not want to contest at the ward member level. Withdrawals were managed from seats in which the ruling party was not sure of a win, he said and added that the BJD employed all methods to force candidates to withdraw.

Meanwhile, the SEC has also released party-wise break-ups of candidates for ZP zones. While the BJD has fielded candidates from all the 851 seats, BJP and Congress candidates are in the fray from 848 and 836 seats respectively. Candidates fielded by other political parties are BSP-159, CPI -38, CPI (M)-72, AAP-32, AJSU-12, JMM-47, others-211 and indepen-dents-298.

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