BALANGIR: Councillor of Ward 19, Santoshini Behera, was elected as the Chairperson of Balangir Municipality on Friday. Similarly, Councillor of Ward 2, Gobardhan Nag, was elected as the Chairman of Titilagarh Municipality.
Both the elected representatives from the ruling BJD were elected uncontested.
The BJD had won both the civic body polls in Balangir and Titilagarh that was held earlier this month. The ruling party won in 15 of the 21 Wards in Balangir while in Titilagarh, it bagged 14 of the 15 Wards.
In Balangir, Congress won in four Wards while BJP managed to win in only one Ward. In Titilagarh, Congress had to be content with one Ward. The post of Chairman for both councils was reserved for scheduled caste (SC) candidates.
Last year, the election to the civic bodies was postponed due to opposition from lawyers who were demanding setting up of a High Court bench in Balangir and district status to Titilagarh.
Supporting the lawyers’ demand, people of both the municipalities had also boycotted the election which were scheduled to take place in September and November last year. Balangir Sub-Collector Brajabandhu Bhol and his Titilagarh counterpart Bishi Keshan Dehuri were election officers in Balangir and Titilagarh respectively.