Dikhyaa Mohanty 
The date of voting for the election of office-bearers of Bhubaneswar Club has been set, which will be held on September 25 and 26. Earlier, the elections were earlier scheduled to be held in May this year but were postponed in view of the COVID second wave.
Two former IAS officers are contending for the position of the President, which was vacant following the demise of former IAS officer Priyabrat Pattnaik. The club’s vice president Sudipta Das, a former scientist with Regional Research Laboratory (now IMMT), has since been serving as acting president of the club.
In a statement explaining why he is contesting for the post of President, Bijay Patnaik, a 1976-batch IAS officer, said- “I have been enjoying the hospitality of the Club for more than 30 years. It has been an integral part of the lives of my wife and children. When I was in CM’s office for 6 years and then the Chief Secretary of the State, I could not possibly have devoted any time to directly get involved in the management of the Club. Now that I have time at my disposal, I thought I should repay some of my debt and give back to the Club my attention, time and service. For me, it is not another empire to be conquered or a trophy to be won. For me, it is just an opportunity to be of use to all of you, my dear Friends.”
The polls were earlier scheduled in early May but it had to be deferred due to the COVID second wave. However, several club members feel the voting could have been done online or in a staggered manner.
For the secretary post there are six contenders: Chinchela, Vishal Kumar Dev (finance secretary), Dewa Shankar Tripathy, Partha Sarathi Panigrahi, Jyoshnamayee Panda and Damodar Pradhani. Five candidates, Jayanta Kumar Hota, Tapesh Roy, Dewa Shankar Tripathy, Mahendra Kumar Gupta and Aroon Birla, are vying for the vice president post while Koushik Mohapatra, Jyotirmoy Mohanty and Ashok Kumar Mishra are battling it out for joint secretary.
