Dhenkanal municipality chairperson post goes to BJP

BHUBANESWAR: BJP has reasons to cheer as its candidate got elected as new chairperson of Dhenkanal municipality by defeating his rival candidate in the by-poll conducted on Thursday. BJP has only five members in the 23-member urban body. According to reports, two candidates, Sudhanshu Dalai from BJP and independent candidate Rudranta Dalai, had filed nominations for the chairman post.Rudranta resigned from Congress to fight the by-poll as an independent candidate. Eight other members of congress also followed his footstep and resigned from the party to become independent, but the resignation was not reportedly approved by the party.
In the 23-member municipality, the Congress had the majority with 11 members followed by BJD's six. But only 18 ward members took part in the election. Of the18 members, 10 from congress (excluding Rudranta), five from BJP, one from BJD and one Independent member participated in the by-poll. The other five members from BJD didn't turn up to take part in the election, official sources said. Both the contestants got nine votes each. So the election officer used toss to elect the new chairman. Dalai wins the toss, said Dhenkanal collector Roopa Roshan Sahu.
She said the members had urged the state election commission (SEC) to conduct by-poll to elect next chairperson of the municipality. The SEC had issued notification for the election. According to the notification, the by-poll was held on Thursday. Sudhanshu Dalai said he along with other members has been revolting against corruption in the municipality and even they voted in favour of no confidence motion against former chairman and vice chairperson after getting complaint against the duo.
"I'll work for the development of the municipality. I'll not let the corruption in to the urban body," said the newly elected chairman. On August 1, former municipality chairman Indramani Behera was defeated in a Congress-sponsored no-confidence motion. As many as 17 ward members had voted in favour of no confidence motion against Behera. Behera was also elected through toss following a tie with his rival candidate. The BJD had formed the council with the help of the BJP.
Even municipality's vice chairperson Namita Behera had also lost trust vote after 19 councilors voted in favour of no confidence motion brought against her on August 19. The ward members had brought corruption allegation against the vice chairperson and former chairman, sources said.