Filing of nominations for Odisha BJP president tomorrow

BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha unit of BJP today issued a notification for filing of nominations for the election for the state president of the party.

The candidates can file their nominations tomorrow between 9.30 AM to 10.30 AM. They can withdraw their papers between 11 AM and 1 PM tomorrow. If there are more than one candidate, then elections will be held on January 15, the notification said.

A total of 178 office-bearers of the party including an MP and ten MLAs will exercise their franchise if election is held, said senior party leader Raj Kishore Das.

Counting of votes and declaration of results will be done on Friday.

Though the party laid emphasis on election of the state president through consensus, party sources said BJP Legislature Party Leader Basant Kumar Panda is the front-runner for the post.

For supervision of the election, the central party leadership has appointed its national general secretary Saroj Pandey who is scheduled to arrive here today.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and in-charge of Odisha, Arun Singh and party national general secretary Soudan Singh have already arrived here for the election.