Much before the polling for the panchayat elections, the ruling BJD headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has clinched the first victory as the State Election Commission declared its candidate for a Zilla Parishad zone elected uncontested.
The SEC in a communication said Kalpana Pradhan (BJD) was elected uncontested as ZP Member, Zone No-2, Ambabhona block in Bargarh district. She was the lone candidate for the post.
Therefore, elections will now be held in 852 ZP seats instead of 853 seats.
SEC sources said that as many as 36,974 candidates were elected unopposed for different posts of the Panchayati Raj Institutions out of 1,06,329 posts.
The uncontested posts included 1 of 853 ZP members, 126 of 6,793 Sarpanch posts, 326 of 67,693 Panchayat Samiti Members and 36,523 of 91,890 Ward Member. About 39% of the Ward Members have been elected uncontested.
