BHUBANESWAR: Even as speculations abound over the mayoral candidates of BJD and BJP for Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), Congress on Friday announced Madhusmita Acharya as its candidate for the post.Announcing this after a meeting of the Congress Election Committee, party MLA and president of the Khurda district Congress committee Suresh Kumar Routray said that the Congress has a good chance of winning the polls in BMC this time.
A former president of the Kamala Nehru College in Bhubaneswar, Madhusmita is also an entrepreneur, sportsperson and Odissi dancer. She is the daughter-in-law of former Congress MLA from Dharamsala, Kangali Charan Panda.
Sources said that Acharya has been announced as the Congress candidate overlooking the claims of Rashmi Mohapatra, who unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Assembly elections from the Ekamra Assembly constituency. The Bhubaneswar district Congress committee has also announced candidates for 30 wards in BMC in the first phase.
The ruling BJD and BJP are, however, yet to announce their candidates for the post of mayor for BMC which has been reserved for women. Bhubaneswar Municipality was headed by a woman Kiran Bala Mangaraj of the Janata Dal in 1993 when Biju Patnaik was the chief minister. Congress has already announced Giribala Behera, a former corporator as its candidate for the post of mayor of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC).
Meanwhile, election committees of both BJP and Congress met here today to discuss strategy for the ensuing urban local body polls to improve performance and avoid results similar to the panchayat elections.
According to the office of the State Election Commission (SEC), a total of 28 candidates have filed their nomination papers for the post of mayors and chairpersons of ULBs so far. Similarly, 145 candidates have filed their papers for councillors and corporators. The filing of nominations for election to the 106 ULBs and three municipal corporations began on March 2 and will conclude on March 7.