The State Government on Tuesday suspended the Ranpur Additional Tehsildar for discrepancies in seat reservation for elections to the Ranpur Notified Area Council (NAC) in Nayagarh district, due to which it had to be rescheduled to May 5. District Collector Hemant Kumar Padhi had served a show-cause notice on Additional Tehsildar Anil Patnaik, who was the Election Officer, after the goof-up.
Patnaik had been shunted out and replaced by Nayagarh Sub-Collector as Election Officer. As per the revised schedule for the NAC elections notified by the State Election Commission, the filing of nomination papers began on April 13. It would continue till April 18. The scrutiny of nominations will be done on April 20. The last date for withdrawal of nomination papers is April 23. Elections will be held on May 5 and counting will be done the following day.