36,779 candidates win Odisha panchayat polls uncontested

As many as 36,779 candidates contesting the three-tier panchayat polls in Odisha have been declared elected uncontested even as the three major political parties intensified their campaigns for the remaining posts.

A total of 36,779 candidates, including 36,222 contesting for the posts of ward members, have won the elections even before polling, State Election Commission (SEC) Secretary Rabindra Nath Sahu said here today.

Of them, 209 won uncontested for the posts of sarpanch, 347 as samiti members and only one in Ganjam district for the zilla parishad post, he added.

The SEC office had notified a final list of 1,89,099 candidates who were in the poll fray after the withdrawal of nomination papers by candidates on January 21.