CUTTACK: With the stage set for urban local body polls, the race for selection of candidates to the Mayor post in Cuttack is hotting up.
All the three major parties BJD, BJP and Congress have a long list of aspirants for the top seat in the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC). This time there will be a direct election to the Mayor post.
The BJD has retained the CMC council for the last two terms. The probable aspirants from the BJD include former corporator Ranjan Biswal, president and secretary of city BJD unit Madhu Sudan Sahu and Prasant Nayak respectively, former mayor Soumendra Ghose, Odia actress Varsha Priyadarshini, local BJD leaders Biswajit Mohanty, Mohammad Sakil, Dharmesh Nayak, Chiranjay Sahu, CMC administrator Anil Samal, former Commissioner Rabi Nanda, former deputy mayor Ajay Barik and secretary, district unit Prasant Nayak.
The final selection of candidates will be done by the district party president Debashis Samantaray, former Choudwar-Cuttack legislator Prabhat Ranjan Biswal and Cuttack Sadar MLA Chandra Sarathi Behera, sources said.
Congress, which had won the Barbati-Cuttack Assembly segment in 2019, has the president of city unit Giribala Behera, former vice-chairperson of CMC Pushpa Samal and daughter of former minister Bijaylaxmi Sahu Shreya Sambedana as aspirants. While a final call will be taken by sitting Barabati-Cuttack legislator Mohammed Moquim, the party is busy strengthening its organisational set-up in the 32 wards under the Barabati-Cuttack Assembly segment.
The BJP which had bagged the first Mayor post after the formation of CMC in 2003 is also looking for a suitable candidate. For the saffron party, the list of probable aspirants include Odia actor Sritam Das, senior leader Binod Das, president of the city unit of the party Lalatendu Badu, state minority community cell president Sikandar Ali and women’s wing leader Smruti Patnaik.