Even as aspiring candidates of different political parties are bracing up for submission of their nomination papers starting on Tuesday for the September 19 urban local body (UlB) elections, the process has been completely disrupted in the western parts of the State due to a bandh call given by the All Western Odisha Bar Association (AWOBA) demanding a High Court Bench in western Odisha.
Almost all political parties have decided to boycott the municipal polls over the issue of High Court Bench while the bandh called by the lawyers has taken their move a step further in this regard.
On the first day of filing of nomination papers, AWOBA members picketed near the Government establishments and forced the officials to shut down the offices disrupting the nomination process. The association members also staged a dharna in front of the RDC office at Sambalpur while others resorted to a demonstration outside the municipality office preventing staff from attending the office. According to sources, the District Election Officer could not make it to the office due to the strike of the lawyers.
The lawyers’ agitation gathered further momentum after leaders of different political parties and members of various social outfits joined their dharna. The bandh also had its echo in the State Assembly on the first day of its Monsoon Session when Opposition MlAs, especially from western Odisha, slammed the Government for its inordinate delay in establishment of a High Court Bench in western Odisha. Ruling BJD MlAs of western Odisha staged a dharna near the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the Assembly premises over same demand. The scenario in Sambalpur was almost similarly was witnessed in the other western Odisha districts of Bargarh, Sundargarh and Jharsuguda as the bar associations of the respective towns joined the agitation.