Berhampur, Nov. 5: BJD nominee Jyotshna Nayak today defeated Congress nominee by 11 votes and became the deputy mayor of the municipal corporation here.

She got 25 votes, while her opponent Dandapani Nayak could manage only 14 votes. One vote was declared invalid.

In the 40-member Berhampur Municipal Corporation, the BJD has 24 members, while the Congress has 15. Apart from this, there is one Independent member.

Bhagaban Gantayat, president of the Ganjam District Congress Committee, said: “One vote of the Congress councillor was found invalid.”

Elections to the post of the civic body’s deputy mayor was earlier slated to be held on October 22. However, it could not be held because of the cyclone Phailin.

On September 30, BJD’s K. Madhavi was elected mayor after she defeated Congress candidate Minati Kumari Bishoyi by 19 votes.

There were allegations of cross voting from the Congress in the elections.

Nayak said she would whole-heartedly devote herself for the development of Berhampur.

Jyotshna’s husband Uma Nayak said: “My wife has been elected as a councillor for two consecutive terms.” He thanked the party leaders for choosing her as the deputy mayor.

All the 24 councillors of the civic body were called to meet chief minister Naveen Patnaik yesterday.

“The chief minister handed over a sealed envelope containing the name of the nominee and asked all of us to vote accordingly,” said a BJD councillor.