Congress leaders meet the state election commissioner on Thursday. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 31: Uncertainty looms over municipal polls in western Odisha with two major Opposition parties — the Congress and the BJP — today making a strong pitch to postpone the elections.

Leaders of the parties submitted memorandums to state election commissioner Ajit Kumar Tripathy in separate delegations, demanding either cancellation or postponement of the polls citing unfavourable conditions, mainly agitation of lawyers, who want a permanent Orissa High Court bench in the region.

The state election commission today extended the date to file nominations till November 5, giving the aspirants three more days from tomorrow barring government holidays. The commission took the decision in the face of the Opposition’s pressure and lukewarm response to the elections in most of the nine districts, where the polls are scheduled on November 22. The last date to withdraw nominations has been revised to November 11.

Only 280 nomination papers have been filed in the past four days in the nine districts. Not a single nomination paper has been submitted in Deogarh and Nuapada districts, while the response is lukewarm in Balangir, Bargarh, Kalahandi, Sambalpur, Sonepur and Sundargarh districts. The pace of filing papers has been better in Jharsuguda district, where, too, the lawyers are on a warpath.

Making a reference to the ongoing agitation, the Congress’ memorandum alleged that the civic polls in western Odisha were announced without consulting other political parties. Stating that the Union law ministry had put the ball in the state government’s court on the high court bench issue, it argued that the conditions were not conducive to hold polls in western Odisha.

The Congress delegation also referred to reports of alleged police atrocities in Sonepur during nomination filing and promulgation of prohibitory orders in certain areas. Besides, it also stated that the candidates would face problem in swearing affidavits and obtaining caste certificates while filing nominations without the lawyers’ assistance. “We, therefore, request you to cancel or postpone it to a suitable date when elections can be held,” the party memorandum appealed to the commission.

“Public opinion in western Odisha is not in favour of the elections. All bar associations in the region have appealed to political parties not to put up candidates. We feel that it is advisable to either cancel the polls or extend its date till normality is restored,” said former law minister and senior Congress leader Narasingh Mishra.

The BJP memorandum was on similar lines with the party urging the commission to postpone the polls citing unfavourable condition and work out a schedule in consultation with other political parties. “Nominations on a piecemeal basis are not going to serve any purpose,” said state BJP spokesperson Suresh Pujari. Sources said the commission had assured the delegation members to look into the grievances.