The by-election for Ward -19 (reserved for women) of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) was held here on Friday.
The election assumes significance in the wake of the drubbing of the ruling BJD in the recently held polls in three Notified Area Councils (NACs). The result of the by-election will be announced on Saturday.
Winning the by-election is now a prestige issue for the ruling BJD. The fate of four candidates, BJD’s Manasirani Sundaray, Congress’s Sasmita Swain, BJP’s Kunirani Mohapatra and independent candidate Minati Sethy will be decided on Saturday. The by-election has been necessitated by the death of Sanghamitra Samal.
It was alleged that the ruling BJD members including some MlAs and former Ministers used massive money to woo voters. Meanwhile, Congress filed petition with the State Election Commission in the alleged “vote for note” and sought the commission’s immediate intervention in it.