Cuttack: Ranendra Pratap Swain of ruling
BJD on Monday filed nomination for the March 18 by-poll to
Athagarh Assembly seat.
Swain, popularly known as Raja and a four-time MLA and
former cabinet minister, was not allowed to contest the 2009
Orissa assembly elections from the constituency although he
was the official nominee of the ruling party.
His nomination papers were rejected by the then
returning officer. He, however, came out triumphant when
Orissa High Court nullified the returning officer’s action and
directed for a fresh elections in the constituency.
The Supreme Court later endorsed the HC’s verdict
upholding the order for a fresh poll in the segment.
Swain accompanied by a large number of supporters and
filed his nomination papers in the office of the Athagarh
sub-collector after addressing a public meeting which was
attended by two senior state cabinet ministers.
An independent candidate Anam Mohapatra also filed his
nomination papers for the polls during the day.
"We have received five sets of nomination papers on the
day. Four are from BJD candidate Ranendra Pratap Swain and
one set of papers from independent candidate Anam Mohapatra,”
said sub-collector and returning officer Trilochan Pradhan.
Opposition Congress has named the
candidature of PCC general secretary Suresh Mohapatra and BJP
has decided to field a local lawyer Bikram Dash for next
month’s by-poll but the two are yet to file their papers.
PTI
