Cuttack: In a stunning victory that went against conventional wisdom, Congress candidate Gouri Das has won the by-election for Ward No 21 in the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC), the results of which were declared on Saturday morning.
Das defeated her BJD rival Tulasi Behera by a significant margin of 217 votes.
She got 1601 votes while BJD candidate Tulasi Behera and BJP candidate Padmini Behera polled 1384 and 935 votes respectively ending up at second and third spot.
“Counting began at 8 am and concluded it in three rounds for six booths. Congress candidate Gouri Das got 1601 votes while BJD and BJP candidates Tulasi Behera and Padmini Behera bagged 1384 and 938 votes respectively. Independent candidate Bharati Behera managed to get only 47 votes,” said election officer Laxmidhar Mohanty.
Speaking to reporters here, Das said,” First, I would like thank all the elderly persons of Ward No-21 who had given me a chance and the Congress team for whom I got this success today. It’s due to the blessing of Md Mukim and Suresh uncle and the platform they had given me to work for people. I promise, I will definitely fulfill the demands each and everyone in the ward.”
“It’s the victory of people in Ward No-21 and they choose a change to end corruption. So, this win will spread the message not only in Cuttack but all over Odisha, which is a good sign. We would like to thank people of Cuttack who are educated and well-informed for bring a change,” said senior Congress leader Suresh Mahapatra.
The by-election was held yesterday.
Notably, the by-poll was necessitated after corporator-cum-Mayor Anita Behera resigned from both the posts on December 29 last year following a controversy over her name figuring in the NFSA ration card list.
On the other hand, BJD candidate Bhanumati Mazumdar won the by-election for Ward No 12 of Umerkote Municipal Corporation by defeating her rival Congress candidate Abha Pande by 198 votes.
In the by-election in ward no-9 in Buguda NAC, Congress candidate Nagabhusan Achari defeated his rival BJD candidate Krutibas Swain by 108 votes.