Sulochana Das of BJD has been appointed as state capital’s first woman mayor. A month back, the ruling party simply swept the BMC (Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation).
The BJD obtained power in BMCas it won a majority of 72% corporator seats. Although there was a dismal turnouton the polling day on March 24, of 43.30 percent voters, Sulochana Das defeated Suniti Mund, the BJP mayor candidate and her nearest rival with the huge margin of more than 61,140 votes.
Das registered significant lead from the very beginning of counting and got 1,74487 votes. She is currently in the position of the party spokesperson.
However, Mund also polled an impressive number of 1.13 lakh votesby givinga tough fight. Madhusmita Acharya, the Congress candidate was third in place with 11006 votes. Besides, Odisha Janata Party’s Niroj Nalini Samal secured 3116 votes.
To corporator seats that is in civic body, the BJD posted a nice performance in elections apart from getting the mayor seat by obtaining a significant margin. Several new faces were given a chance by the party to counter the challenge of saffron and thwart the factor of anti-incumbency.
Forty-eight out of 67 seats of corporator was won by the candidates of BJD compared to the 49 seats that were in previous urban polls which was held in 2013. On other hand, in the previous election, BJP which had won 4 seats, managed to improve the tally by getting 10 seats. The candidates of the saffron party gave their best effort in spite of the top brass and the faction-ridden organisation making itself side-lined from the campaigning.
On other hand, Congress even could not open its account. The old grand party had secured 2 seats in the polls previously but failed to garner even one single seat.
Many of the independents, who were actually rebels contested the election as they had been denied tickets from BJD. They even managed to get nine seats. In the last election, the number of independent candidates who had won corporator seats in the jurisdiction of BMC was 12.
Sulochana Das
In the list of agendas of Sulochana Das, addressing the problems of waterlogging of the city capital is on top. She is determined to make sure that benefits of every government scheme reaches the last person who is at the bottom of Pyramid. In her agenda of five years, there is also the goal to strengthen the redressal system of grievance of the city and turn slums into colonies figure which are Adarsh. She was formerly a journalist and joined the BJD in the year of 2017 after quitting Congress. She was also state commissioner for disabled people.
After her major win, she thanked all the voters for voting her and congratulated other winners from different parties. As Mayor of the people, she will try to ensure that BMC reaches out to people to address the grievances. The people will not need to come to the office of BMC instead. She also urged everyone to join hands for making the city smart, vibrant and safe for all its citizens.