BHUBANESWAR: BJD corporator Manjulata Kanhar was on Saturday elected the deputy mayor of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC). The 28-year-old tribal corporator was elected unopposed. Both BJP and Congress were unable to field any candidate due to their insufficient numbers in the civic body.
A postgraduate from Berhampur University, Manjulata lives with her husband Sourav Jani in Bharatpur slum in the city. While Sourav is a government employee, Manjulata was a tailor prior to joining politics.
A first timer, she won the corporator seat in the recently concluded polls by defeating her nearest BJP rival with 476 votes. Manjulata who left behind many heavyweights in the race to deputy mayor post is said to have been picked up by the BJD as an acknowledgement to the ‘unwavering support’ the ruling party received from the slum dwellers in the urban elections.
She thanked Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik for trusting her with the important role. She said she will work for the progress of the Capital city and address waterlogging and drainage issues on priority basis.
With the election of Manjulata, Bhubaneswar for the first time will have women as mayor and deputy mayor. Women also comprise a majority of the corporator seats in the BMC.
The elected representatives took oath of office on the day at the BMC headquarters here. Sulochana Das was also sworn in as the first woman mayor of BMC.
Director of municipal administration Sangramjit Nayak administered the oath to Das and other newly elected representatives in presence of BMC Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Singh.