Bhubaneswar, Dec. 18: On a day that saw the BJD still keeping its candidate list under wraps, 29 nomination papers were filed for the forthcoming municipal corporation polls.

The nomination filing process, which started on Monday, will continue till Friday. Today while five candidates filed their papers for Utkal Bharat Party, the affiliation of the other candidates will be known later because national and state parties send their list directly to the election officer and the poll officials match the list with the applications during scrutiny.

While the BJD gave tickets to 12 candidates under the Bhubaneswar (Central) Assembly constituency by the afternoon, the leaders were secretive about declaring the names of the candidates to avoid resentment among the party cadres.

While Bhubaneswar (Central) MLA Bijoy Mohanty told The Telegraph that the party was yet to distribute tickets to its candidates, chairman of the selection committee and parliamentary affairs minister Kalpataru Das said: “We have given party tickets to 12 candidates under the Bhubaneswar (Central) Assembly constituency and the remaining tickets under Bhubaneswar (Ekamra) and Bhubaneswar (North) will be distributed by tonight or tomorrow morning.”

Confusion prevailed as the minister said that the list was not with him and might be at at the chief minister’s residence. Party officials at Naveen Nivas clarified that the list could be availed from the party office or Das’s office. At BJD party office there was hardly anyone available as most of the councilors with their supporters were either busy for a proposed party rally on Thursday and the rest were worried over their own future.

Till late in the evening, hundreds of party ticket hopefuls and their supporters choked the road outside Naveen Nivas as the news regarding distribution of party tickets spread. The other two political parties — Congress and BJP —are yet to come up with their candidates’ list despite just two days remaining for filling of the nomination.

“As the candidates are coming with their supporters, the road in front of the election officer-cum-additional district magistrate’s office has become extremely crowded. Managing it with just one section of reserved police force and two or three local police officials has become a tough task. As more and more people will come tomorrow and the day after, more police deployment will be required,” said a police officer.

In another development, the resignation of Bhubaneswar Mahila Congress president Rashmi Mohapatra today has sent tongues wagging. Mohapatra was instrumental in fighting for developing the Old Town area. “I have no plan to join any party in the near future,” she said.

Pyari Mohan Mohapatra’s new outfit Odisha Jana Morcha today suffered a blow as Orissa High Court rejected its plea seeking judicial intervention against the State Election Commission’s decision disallowing the use of its kite symbol in the Bhubaneswar polls.

Women voters

On the first day of the two-day national consultation on women’s participation in the electoral process, the Election Commission of India today said that awareness had to be created on participation of more women in the electoral process.

Election commissioner Nasim Zaidi said: “In Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi, the women voter turnout is rising. But in Odisha and especially in the urban pockets, the decline is a reason for concern.”