K. MADHAVI ELECTED AS FIRST WOMAN MAYOR OF BERHAMPUR CORPORATION

BJD candidate K Madhavi was elected as the Mayor of the Brahmapur Municipal Corporation (BMC) defeating her Congress rival Meenati Kumari Bisoyi. Out of the 40 BMC corporators, Madhavi secured 29 votes and Bisyoi 10 while the remaining corporator Ranjit Nayak was absent since he is in jail. As the Congress has won 15 seats in the BMC, some of the party corporators cross-voted in favour of the BJD candidate.

Ministers Surjya Narayan Patro and Usha Devi, many other BJD leaders including local BJD MLA Ramesh Chandra Chyu Pattnaik, Rourkela MLA Sarada Prasad Nayak, Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahi and Bhubaneswar Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena were present at the BMC office for the whole day.

Anti-defection laws are not applicable during the election for the heads of urban bodies. So, both the BJD and the Congress had taken up measures to check defection. The BJD had taken all its 24 corporators outside the State, who had returned back to Bhubaneswar on Sunday. All of them reached the BMC office together on Monday morning for the voting process for the mayor. All of them said the mayor candidate had been chosen by the BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The Congress had also taken its corporators to Puri and after their return they had been kept in a hotel till the voting. But despite all these precautions, the Congress could not keep the loyalty of its party corporators intact. Sources: The Pioneer & The Hindu