BMC polls: No nominations filed on 1st day

Bhubaneswar: On the first day of the
filing of nominations, no nomination papers were filed on Monday for the
elections to the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) scheduled to be held
on January 8.

As
per the notification of the State Election Commission, December 20 is the last
date for filing of nominations and the scrutiny of nominations will be held on
December 23. Withdrawal of nominations will be done on December 26.

It
is said that due to various reasons including delimitation and reservations of
wards ruling BJD and Opposition Congress and BJP are still struggling in
selecting suitable candidates for the corporation polls.

While
BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has formed a committee comprising
Panchayati Raj Minister Kalpataru Das, Rural Development Minister Bikram Keshri
Arukh, Women and Child Development Minister Usha Devi and MLA Pramila Mallick
for selection of suitable candidates for the party, BJP has given the complete
responsibility of the corporation poll to senior party leader Biswa Bhusan
Harichandan. Congress is in process of selecting candidates.