DHENKANAL: Chairperson of Hindol Notified Area Council (NAC) Rina Behera, a BJD member, lost her seat in a no-confidence motion passed by the councillors on Friday, September 17, 2021. Hindol Sub-Collector Uday Mohapatra said during counting, all 12 votes went in favour of the no-confidence motion moved by BJD members. Hindol NAC has a total of 16 seats.
In the last elections, BJD had bagged 13 seats while BJP got one. The rest two were won by Independents. Last year, 12 BJD members had moved a no-confidence motion against the chairperson. However, she approached the court which stayed the counting of votes. The voting took place on November 20 last year and four out of the total 16 remained absent. But the counting could not be taken up due to the court’s stay order.
Sources said the stay order was vacated on September 8 facilitating the counting of votes. The counting took place on the day and all 12 votes cast went in favour of the no-confidence motion. Mohapatra said all the 12 votes cast on the day went against the chairperson. “Twelve BJD councillors moved a no-confidence motion against the chairperson. We have written to the government for further action,” the Sub-Collector added.
Police were deployed to maintain law and order during the counting of votes. The defeat of BJD’s NAC chairperson has created ripples in political circles of the undivided Dhenkanal district. Notably, Hindol Assembly seat is represented by BJD MLA Simarani Naik.