The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha and the BJP, the primary Opposition celebration, are engaged in a fierce battle within the Bhubaneswar civic ballot that’s scheduled to be held on Thursday together with elections in 108 different city native our bodies (ULBs) throughout the state.
The capital, which has the most important city civic physique within the state with 67 wards, may even see two firsts within the mayoral election — the primary girl elected to the submit because it has been reserved for girls, and a direct election.
The contest is being billed as a “prestige battle” between the BJD and the BJP after the saffron celebration wrested management of the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha constituency from the ruling celebration in 2019. The seat had been with the Naveen Patnaik-led celebration since 1998.
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The BJD, nevertheless, continues to carry all three Assembly constituencies within the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) space and will likely be buoyed by its landslide victory in final month’s rural elections.
“The Bhubaneswar ULB is more of a prestige issue between the parties. For the BJD, it has been a party bastion for the longest time but the BJP winning the Lok Sabha seat in 2019 was like a reality check for the BJD. The BJP now occupies the foremost post in the federal system in Bhubaneswar. While the BJP wants to assert that it can be the ultimate choice for voters in Bhubaneswar, the BJD simply wants to maintain its position in the local body,” stated a former BJD chief.
The BJP has fielded creator Suniti Mund for the mayoral election. While senior BJP leaders, together with many MPs, stayed away, Bhubaneswar MP and former bureaucrat Aparajita Sarangi was on the forefront of Mund’s marketing campaign.
“Bhubaneswar is not only the capital city but also a smart city. But under the leadership of the BJD, not much has been accomplished. The BMC holds importance for us because as elected representatives here we can work in close tandem with the central government to enable and fast-track a lot of things,” stated BJP state normal secretary Golak Mohapatra. He, nevertheless, denied that the outcomes would have an effect on the celebration’s prospects within the state within the 2024 elections.
Meanwhile, on the hustings, the BJD’s candidate Sulochana Das, the previous State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, labored carefully with MLAs Ashok Panda, who can also be the science and expertise minister, Ananta Narayan Jena, and Sushant Rout. The three legislators characterize Assembly seats in Bhubaneswar.
Odisha city civic polls in numbers
Number of city native our bodies: 109 (47 municipalities, 59 Notified Area Councils, and three Municipal Corporations)
Number of cubicles and wards in three municipal firms: 168 wards and 1,407 cubicles
Bhubaneswar polls: 289 nominees in 67 wards; 12 mayoral candidates
Number of cubicles and wards in the remainder of the polls: 1,731 wards and three,030 cubicles
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
