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Cuttack, Feb. 5: Local residents feel that despite the unimpressive performance of the outgoing municipal council, they have no choice other than the BJD, because of its leader chief minister Naveen Patnaik and his commitment to maintain the pace of development in the city.
The city is in for a triangular contest in the Cuttack Municipal Corporation elections tomorrow. The BJD is eyeing a second victory; the Congress looks for return to power after 10 years, while the BJP is set to make it a fight in certain areas.
Two new outfits — Pyari Mohan Mohapatra’s Odisha Jana Morcha and Soumya Ranjan Patnaik’s Ama Odisha — are also in the fray in several constituencies to test their popularity.
“There is no point in wasting a vote on a person or a party that has no say or make their voice heard. But, there is always a vote for Independent and deserving candidates, who impress about their position and strength,” said a cross section of voters, who did not wish to be named.
“Although I have been a Congress man, I would have to accept that the BJD government, led by Naveen Patnaik, has done what was hitherto not done by starting implementation of the Japan International Cooperation Agency-funded sewage and drainage project. It promises to fix the perennial problem of waterlogging in Cuttack,” he said.
Ground reports indicated that the BJD, after Naveen’s marathon campaigning, was clearly ahead of the Congress and the BJP in around 35 wards and locked in neck-and-neck straight fights with the Congress in eight wards, the BJP seven and four Independent candidates.
However, both the Congress and the BJP, banking on “poor civic facilities, a corrupt municipal council, lack of development and above all, involvement of BJD councillors in looting of post-Phailin relief materials”, hope to form the next council.
The Congress promised to waive 50 per cent of holding tax and to supply two mosquito nets to each family while vowing to get the city rid of mosquito menace. The BJP promised to provide subsidised meals at Rs 7 at “Janata Bhojanalayas” run by the corporation and make the city mosquito free by constituting an expert committee and special cell for it. The Congress has assured rehabilitation to slum dwellers before evacuation and the BJP a slum-free city.
The BJD, on the other hand, focused only on achievements in the civic front, which have purportedly paved the way for a development process in the city. The party also made inclusion of Cuttack under two centrally sponsored schemes — the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme and the Rajv Awas Yojana — for rehabilitation of slum dwellers in the city, an issue during the campaign.
After a Congress-majority council in 1997, a fractured mandate had prevented any political party to have a single majority to form the Cuttack Municipal Council in 2003. In that year, the BJP, which had won 16 of the 48 wards, formed the council in alliance with the BJD.
Baripada polls
Election will also be held for the 28-member strong Baripada Municipality tomorrow. The district administration has taken strict steps to ensure free-and-fair polls in all the 78 booths of the municipality. Ten mobile patrolling units will do rounds to keep security in tight leash. In all, 140 candidates, of them 73 women, are in the fray. Nearly 68,854 voters are expected to cast their franchise.