Battle lines drawn as BJP, BJD, Congress announce mayor candidates for BMC

Battle lines have been drawn with all three major political parties in Odisha announcing the names of their mayor candidates for the March 24 urban local body polls to elect Bhubaneswar's first woman mayor directly by the people.

Opposition BJP, which holds the prestigious Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat, announced the name of Dr Suniti Mund as its candidate for the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) mayor post barely two hours after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik named Sulochana Das as the BJD candidate for the coveted post.

A day before, Congress had named Mudhusmita Acharya as its candidate for the BMC mayor post.

Mund, a native of tribal-dominated Nuapada district, is the chairperson of the Institute of Literature, Dakshya Foundation, and managing director of Dakshya Venture Private Limited. She has also worked as a producer, director and scriptwriter for soaps, advertisement films and documentaries.

The mayor posts for BMC and Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) are reserved for women, while the post is unreserved in Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC).

Das is a former journalist and state commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (PwD), Odisha, while Mund is a writer. Acharya is the daughter-in-law of former Congress MLA Kangali Panda. She is also a sports organiser and former student leader.

Earlier in the day, BJD president Naveen Patnaik also announced the names of mayor candidates for CMC and BeMC. While Rajya Sabha MP Subhas Singh has been named as the BJD candidate for CMC, Sanghamitra Dalai will contest for the mayor's post as a BJD candidate from BeMC.

The polling for the state's three municipal corporations and 106 other Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) are scheduled to be held on March 24, for which the nomination filing process has started on March 2 and will continue till March 7.

As many as 37 people have filed their nomination papers for chairpersons and mayor posts while 275 others have submitted their papers for the posts of councillors and corporators on Saturday.

''I express my gratitude to the chief minister for choosing me as the party's mayor candidate. I will try to meet the aspirations of the people,'' Das told reporters here.

Starting her political career from Congress, Sulochana Das had later joined the BJD and also worked as the regional party's spokesperson.

The BMC area is spread over three assembly segments.

''I am happy that the chief minister has considered me as a candidate for the CMC mayor post. I will work hard for the development of the millennium city of Cuttack,'' Singh said. The CMC area is also spread over three assembly segments.

Patnaik also named Sanghamitra Dalai as the BJD's mayor candidate for BeMC. Dalai started her political journey as a Congress candidate and later joined BJD and become a corporator of BeMC.

''I thank Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for posing trust on me. We will work together for the development of Berhampur city,'' Dalai said.

The State Election Commission (SEC) had already announced that this is for the first time that the mayors and chairpersons of the ULBs will be directly elected by the people.

Polling to 47 municipalities, 59 notified area councils and three municipal corporations will be held on March 24, while votes will be counted and results declared on March 26.

Over 27 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in 3,030 booths in 1,731 wards in 106 ULBs for chairperson and councillor posts. Similarly, over 14.26 lakh voters can cast their votes at 1,407 booths in 168 wards in three municipal corporations for the election of mayors and corporators.