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Campaigning for BMC election concludes

BHUBANESWAR: The residents of the capital city heaved a sigh of relief as campaigning for the December 2 Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation polls came to an end on Sunday evening.

High-pitch campaigning was going on across the city during the past two weeks with supporters of those contesting the polls playing recorded appeals, slogans and speeches of the contestants over hundreds of microphones to woo the electorate.

Hundreds of public meetings were also organised by those fighting the polls in their attempt to attract the voters. Top leaders of different political parties attended those meetings and urged the voters to support their respective nominees.

As regards the major parties, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was the star campaigner for Biju Janata Dal, while Industry Minister Biswabhushan Harichandan led the campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party. Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee president Jayadev Jena led the campaign for his party nominees.

More than 400 candidates were contesting the polls that were to be held in the 60 municipal wards of the city.

The BJD and the BJP which were partners in the ruling coalition in the State were contesting the polls separately. This had made the campaigning work tough for the candidates and workers of both parties. Both parties had fielded their candidates in all the wards.

The Congress, the main opposition party in the State, however, appeared to be lagging behind during the campaign process. Lack of unity among the top leaders of the party had made the going tough for the nominees. Congress had fielded its candidates in as many as 57 wards.

However, Congress leaders were hopeful of winning many seats because of the presence of a large number of BJD rebels in the fray. As BJD was appearing to be ahead of the remaining parties, many who failed to manage a ticket from the party had entered the arena as Independents.

Other parties seriously in the fray include Samruddha Odisha, Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party. Samruddha Odisha was contesting the maximum number of wards among these.

The polling is scheduled to be held from 8 am to 5 pm on Tuesday. The counting of votes and declaration of results will be done on Wednesday.

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