Two Women At The Helm Of Bhubaneswar Civic Affairs; Manjulata Kanhar Elected ‘Uncontested’ As Deputy Mayor

Bhubaneswar: Soon after Sulochana Das took oath as the first woman Mayor of Bhubaneswar, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidate Majulata Kanhar was elected uncontested as the Deputy Mayor of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) here on Saturday as the rival parties failed to field their candidates for the post.

BJP president and Chief Minister sprung a surprise again by picking Majulata Kanhar, an educated scheduled tribe woman, as the party nominee for the post. The Corporator of Ward No.22 is a post-graduate in political science from Sambalpur University.

After officially taking charge, she told mediapersons that her first priority would be to address the waterlogging issue in different low-lying areas in the city.

BJD had swept the urban election by winning 48 of the 67 wards. The BJP captured 10 wards and others won 9 while Congress could not open its account.

Earlier in the day, Soluchana Das had assumed charge as the first woman mayor of Bhubaneswar.

She was directly elected to the prestigious post in the civic body and had defeated her rival candidate from BJP, Suniti Mund, with a margin of 61,143 votes.

Prior to this, Sulochana had served the State Commissioner for Persons with Disability (PwD).

A journalist by profession, she started her political journey with Congress and joined the BJD in 2017.