As the days are drawing close for election of ZP president post, speculations are rife as to who would the grab the coveted post. Baleswar has 45 ZP seats and seats won by the BJD, the BJP and the Congress in the current elections are 31, 13 and one, respectively.
Since this time the ZP president post has been reserved for woman (general), the race among the aspirants of the ruling BJD which has got a clear majority is gearing up. Among the 31 winners in the BJD, 20 are women.
The ZP president of last term Umilata Das who contested elections this time eyeing for the post lost to the BJP candidate miserably. However, there are three aspirants in the race.
They are Nibedita Mohanty (zone 31 of Bhograi), Sarojini Mohapatra (zone 42 of Simulia block) and Sabitri Das (zone 10 of Jaleswar block) .
The political observers feel that a ZP member from north Baleswar, either from the Bhograi or Jaleswar, is most likely to be the ZP chief.
The ruling BJD has made a clean sweep by winning all 18 seats of Bhograi, Jaleswar , Basta and Baliapal. Interestingly, no MlA is recommending any name for the ZP president post from their constituency this time.
Some believe that among the three front runners, the chance of Sarojini Mohaptra is bright as her name is likely to be recommended by district BJD president and Bhograi MlA Ananta Das.
On the other hand, another group said that the choice for the post could be Srimati Patnayak, the winner of zone 28 under Sadar block.
The party sources, besides stating that these names were considered for the post, informed the final decision would be of BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.