Apprehending foul play by the ruling BJD during the coming panchayat polls in Ganjam, the BJP has demanded deployment of special protection forces in some of the vulnerable areas in the district.”We doubt if the elections will be free and fair with the local police being on election duty because we feel it will favour the ruling party,” said BJP State secretary and spokesperson Golak Mohapatra here. “At several places, we have received complaints about police personnel and officials of the block development offices threatening people opposed to the ruling party,” he said. “We will appraise the State Election Commission about it,” he added.
He said the BJP would field Zilla Parishad candidates in all the 69 ZP seats in the State, “We are happy as more than one aspirant have applied for the party tickets while five years ago we could not find suitable persons,” he said.
In the 69-member ZP, the BJP had won two seats in the last panchayat elections. Bibhuti Jena, another secretary of the party’s State unit, said, the BJP would highlight the failures of the BJD on all fronts.