The people of the newly-formed Risgigaon gram panchayat of Nuapada district have decided to elect their sarpanch, panchayat samiti member and ward members without going for an election process. Single nominations have been filed for different posts in the panchayat. So, all of them are winners uncontested.
The panchayat was formed newly just before the election consisting of four villages with eleven wards. Sarpanch and samiti member posts were reserved for the people of SC communities. There was a conflict between two groups of villages Rishigaon and Darlipada on the one side and Sargadi and Narasinghpur on the other for setting up of the panchayat headquarters.
As the headquarters was established in Rishigaon village, the voters of Sargadi and Narasinghpur villagers had decided to boycott the vote. Under the circumstances, the voters of Rishigaon and Darlipada decided to show unity and selected single candidates.
“The SC people expressing solidarity decided to select one candidate each for the reserved posts, so we also supported their unity,” said the villagers of Rishigaon, which consists of people of different castes. The Dom Gana Samaj, a social forum of SC people, which is working for the rights of SCs, took the lead in organising the voters for selection instead of election.
“It is a pride for us that we have not contested but consented,” said laxman Bibhar, who is an aspirant for the post of sarpanch, but gave way to another by agreeing to the decision of the community.
Consenting for single candidate in the present situation of competition was possible because of the unity among the SCs, said Dom-Gana Samaj president Fakira Jagat.
The official declaration of the victory of the candidates would be on January 21 next. The sarpanch and samiti member nominees are Malyabants Suna and Purna Chandra Sethi respectively. The ward member nominees are Chaturi Gahir, Tabiraj Tandi, Sushila Sabar, Jaladhar Jani and Dhanamati Meher.