In a major setback to the Pyarimohan Mohapatra-led Odisha Jan Morcha (OJM), which recently got ‘kite’ as its election symbol, the State Election Commissioner (SEC) Ajit Kumar Tripathy on Friday told reporters here that the OJM cannot fight the ensuing Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections scheduled to be held on January 8, as the SEC was not intimated about the allotment of the symbol before the declaration of poll schedule.
“The State Election Commission was not intimated about the allotment of ‘kite’ symbol to the OJM prior to the announcement of poll schedule for the BMC. Hence, as per the provision, the OJM can’t contest the BMC polls this time,” said Tripathy. On Thursday, OJM president and Rajya Sabha member Pyarimohan Mohapatra had revealed that his party would field its candidates in all 67 wards of the BMC. He also spoke about the constitution of a six-member committee to finalise the candidates’ names and also to prepare poll strategy.