Bhubaneswar: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday announced the names of its mayoral candidates for the municipal corporations of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Berhampur.
The BJD has announced its spokesperson Sulochana Das as the mayoral candidate for Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) while BJP has named writer and social activist Suniti Mund for the top civic body post.
Congress has already fielded Madhusmita Acharya for the post. At present, Das is serving as the chairperson of State Commission for Persons with Disabilities. However, Mund is a new face in state politics.
Announcing party’s mayor candidate for Bhubaneswar, BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi said Mund comes from a strong literary background and has authored 28 books.
After holding several brainstorming meetings, the party has selected Mund as the mayoral candidate out of 25 applicants, she said.
Similarly, the BJD has nominated Rajya Sabha MP Subhash Singh as the mayor candidate for Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC).
Likewise, the ruling party has nominated Sanghamitra Dalei as the mayor candidate for Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC).
Dalei is the BJD women wing president of Ganjam district.
Congratulating the party nominees, party supremo Naveen Patnaik, through twitter, advised them to get closer to people with a commitment for their services. He wished for the victory of all the three candidates in the election.
This is for the first time that the three municipal corporations will go to direct elections for the post of mayor along with chairpersons of 106 municipalities and NACs.
This time, the government has reserved the mayor chair in Bhubaneswar and Berhampur for women while the post in CMC was kept unreserved. The elections will be held March 24 and the results will be declared March 26.
PNN