Parties gear up for Belpahar civic polls

Parties in Belpahar are gearing up for the municipal elections to be held in early April. Hectic meetings attended by party leaders and workers for strategies to win the polls are a sign of it. Former BJP president Suresh Pujari, Brajrajnagar MlA Radharani Panda and district BJP president Pramod Senapati held discussions in the party office to finalise the candidates.

“BJD is a divided house here with dissidence plaguing it. We will attack the BJD on issues of drinking water and pollution,” said a BJP leader, adding that the BJD which won the Belpahar Municipality polls for two terms is sure to face anti-incumbency this time. District BJP president Pramod Senapti will organise public meetings in the fourth week of March to improve the party’s prospects, he said further.

Selection of candidates from BJD is in progress and the party leaders are collecting information from grass roots level to finalise a list of candidates, said Youth BJD district president. After Anup Sai’s joining in the BJD, the Congress has become weak. Former speaker Kishore Chandra Patel and Jharsuguda MlA Naba Kishore Das are reorganising the party to fill the vacuum but that is hardly going to have any impact in the civic body polls so far as the Congress prospects are concerned, said an observer. 

According to official sources, nominations for the polls will be filed from March 16 to March 20. The  polling will be held on April 7 and 8. Meanwhile, the number of wards has increased from 16 to 19.