Birendra Narayan Swain Elected General Secretary of Rourkela Central Puja Committee
Rourkela, October 4, 2026 (SatyaNewsAlert): The election of the Rourkela Central Puja Committee (CPC), which oversees the smooth organisation of Durga Puja, Kali Puja and Lakshmi Puja celebrations, for the 2026–27 term was successfully conducted at the ITDA Conference Hall on Sunday.
Birendra Narayan Swain was elected General Secretary of the committee, securing 190 votes and defeating his rival, Biraj Mohan Biswal, who received 83 votes. A total of 12 votes were declared invalid.
Biswanath De was elected Treasurer of the Central Puja Committee.
Polling was held from 9 am to 3 pm, with a total of 298 members representing various puja committees exercising their franchise. Vote counting began at 4 pm in the presence of Panposh Sub-Collector Chandrakant Mallik, Rourkela Municipal Corporation Joint Commissioner Pallavi Nayak, Deputy Collector Prarabdha Bada Panda and CPC Returning Officer and Rourkela Tahasildar Salami Majhi.
The Central Puja Committee has been divided into three zones—Civil Township, Steel Township and Fertilizer Township. Elections were also held for the posts of Vice-President, Joint Secretary and two Executive Members in each zone.
Steel Township Zone:
Vice-President: Srikanta Kumar Ray
Joint Secretary: Pankaj Kumar Samal
Executive Members: Nihar Ranjan Samantaray and Rahul Ray
Civil Township Zone:
Vice-President: Dharmendra Kumar Dubey
Joint Secretary: Prakash Dhal
Executive Members: Pratikshita Sagar and Purushottam Patra
Fertilizer Township Zone: All candidates were elected unopposed.
Vice-President: Dilip Kumar Jena
Joint Secretary: Pradeep Dash
Executive Members: Pankaj Kumar Padhi and Kali Charan Biswal
The newly elected office-bearers will be responsible for coordinating and ensuring the smooth conduct of major religious festivals across Rourkela during the 2026–27 term.
