The voters’ turnout was abysmally low in the elections to the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday, which boasts for its literate, politically sensitive and elite citizens. Only around 45 per cent of the total 6,90,239 voters exercised their franchise, deciding the fate of 393 candidates in 67 wards.
According to the State Election Commission (SEC), the voting was by and large peaceful baring reports of stray incidents in a few booths. The counting of votes and announcement of results would be done at the BJP Autonomous College here on Thursday and elections to the post of Mayer and Deputy Mayer would be held on January 17 and February 1, the SEC said.
Voting was taken amid tight security and web cameras were installed for the first time in 22 booths to enable the SEC to monitor the proceedings online. There was report of proxy voting in some wards. Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik cast his vote at the booth 522 under his ward 53. Bhubaneswar lok Sabha Member Prasanna Patasani and three MlAs of the Capital city also exercised their franchise in their respective booths.
While the ruling BJD put up candidates for all the 67 wards, BJP fielded nominees in 66 and Congress did it in 62 wards. At least, 161 Independents, including rebels from the BJD, were in the fray from various wards.
According to the observes, the voters in Bhubaneswar turned insensitive towards the elections being fed up with the kind of candidates put up by the political parties and the manner the campaign was undertaken in the capital city. Mostly, the voters belonging to the slums had exercised their fundamental rights. After the polling, the BJD asserted that the party would continue its winning spree and retain the BMC. The BJD is sure to form the council by bagging a majority of wards, said Rural Development Minister Bikram Keshari Arukh.
On the other hand, the main Opposition Congress, which had fared very poor in the last three phases of the UlB polls, seemed not so optimistic about the results. PCC president Jayadev Jena alleged that this time also the ruling BJD had used its brazen money and muscle power to win the polls.
Coming down heavily on the BJD poll managers, Jena charged that the ruling party leaders and activists had resorted to distribution of blanket, cash of Rs 5,000 per head and sarees among the slum dwellers to garner votes, violating the model code of conduct. The SEC shut its eyes to the open violation of poll and immoral poll practices of the ruling BJD, he charged.