Candidates rush to file papers

RAYAGADA: With Thursday being the last day for filing of nominations, candidates of all the parties except BJD filed their papers on Wednesday.Nine Congress candidates comprising seven women and two men - filed their papers for Rayagada, Kolnara and K  Singhpur ZP constituencies under Rayagada sub-division. Candidates of parties like CPI(ML) and NCP had already filed nominations on Monday while BSP’s three candidates filed their papers on Wednesday. A woman candidate of BJP also filed her paper.Meanwhile, the members of Jhodia community in Kashipur block on Wednesday decided to reopen the panchayat offices. They had locked 10 panchayat offices for the last few days in two ZP constituencies - Kashipur (B) and Kashipur (C) in the block demanding inclusion of their tribe in the Scheduled Tribe category. They, however, have decided not to allow member of any of the political parties to file nominations for the ensuing panchayat polls.Sources said due to a technical error in the 80s, the tribals belonging to the ‘Jhodia Poroja’ community were inadvertently recorded as ‘Jhodia’ in Kashipur, a name with which they are known till today.While the ‘Jhodia Poroja’ is recognised as a tribal community  in the neighbouring Kalahandi, the Jhodias in Kashipur have been deprived of government benefits due to the error.Nabarangpur: As many as 54 candidates have filed their nomination papers for the ZP member seats till Wednesday. Of them, 21 candidates are from BJD, 19 from Congress, nine from BJP, one from BSP and four are independent candidates.Prominent among those who filed nominations are former president of ZP Manjula Majhi, district women wing president of BJD Nibedita Mohanty, Umerkote BJD MLA’s wife and chairperson of Raighar block Nabeena Naik and former chairperson of Tentulikhunti block Bibhudata Majhi of BJD.