Cuttack: The Opposition Congress Saturday managed to snatch away the corporator post of ward No. 21 here from the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in a by-election for which voting was held Friday. Gouri Das of Congress defeated the regional party’s nominee, Tulasi Behera, by a margin of 217 votes.
Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) sources said Das secured 1,601 votes against 1,384 votes that Behera managed to garner. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Padmini Behera secured the third position by bagging 938 votes.
The bypoll result gave a sudden morale boost to Congress activists in the Silver City while it injected a sense of despair in the BJD camp. Political observers were keenly watching the outcome of the by-election mainly because Barabati-Cuttack MLA Debashish Samantaray of BJD is a resident of ward No. 21.
Counting of votes for the by-election was conducted at Municipality High School at Rajabagicha amid tight security. CMC sources said Congress nominee Das established a lead over BJD’s Behera from the first round of counting. Das got 478 votes against 440 of Behera in the first round.
Das managed to secure 656 votes in the second round while Behera got only 501. The Congress nominee got 467 votes against the BJD nominee’s 443 in the third and final round of counting, said CMC sources.
The by-election result has created shockwaves in the rank and file of BJP and its local leadership as the party’s candidate, Padmini Behera, who was at second position during the last civic body election, slipped to the third in the bypoll.
Congress workers burst into dance and set off crackers as soon as the result of the bypoll was declared by the returning officer and ADM, Laxmidhar Mohanty. A large number of Congress workers gathered near the party’s city unit office at Purighat to greet Das.
“The voters of ward No. 21 have chosen Congress nominee Das by defeating money and muscle power,” said city Congress president Muhammad Moquim.
A beaming Das said: “I thank all voters in my ward. I will do my best for the development of ward No. 21”.
The by-election for ward No. 21 was necessitated by the resignation of BJD corporator and then mayor Anita Behera after she faced allegations of misconduct in implementation of NFSA. PNN
