381 found eligible to contest Cuttack civic body elections

Nomination papers of five candidates were rejected for different reasons and second set of papers of 13 other candidates were kept aside, leaving 381 candidates eligible to contest next month’s CMC poll after scrutiny of papers on Monday. The CMC election officer had received 399 sets of nomination papers from a total of 386 candidates from all the 59 wards of the civic body.

The final list of candidates to remain in fray would be known only on January 24 after the expiry of withdrawal deadline.

The eligible candidates, who wish to withdraw from the race, could do so on any day between Tuesday and Friday, said the CMC election officer and Cuttack district ADM Laxmidhar Mohanty on the day.

The nomination paper of one Sukanta Sahu, who had wished to contest as an independent candidate from Ward No. 5 was rejected as Sahu had not submitted any document in support of his caste. Similarly, the proposal of BSP candidate Bandana Mallick was rejected for the same reason. Mallick had filed her papers to contest in Ward No. 51.

Prativa Behera of Ward No.45 was not eligible to contest the elections as she was found underage to be a corporator during scrutiny. Prativa had wished to contest the poll as an independent candidate from her ward .

Similarly, the nomination papers of one Rajendra Nayak of Ward No. 16 and another Basudev Behera of Ward No. 24 were rejected after scrutiny on the day when it was learnt that both the candidates had not submitted relevant affidavits mentioning about their qualifications and criminal antecedents along with their nomination papers. Both Nayak and Behera had wished to contest as independent candidates from their respective wards.