The newly elected councillors at their first meet in the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 4: Tomorrow’s election to the post of deputy mayor of the municipal corporation remains a mere formality as the BJD commands clear majority in 67-member council.

Most of the newly elected councillors and mayor Ananta Narayan Jena are camping either in Cuttack or Baripada for the civic polls.

With the campaigning for the two civic bodies coming to close this evening, the decision for the deputy mayor of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation is expected to be taken by BJD president and chief minister Naveen Patnaik after a meeting at Naveen Nivas tonight.

All the three MLAs from Bhubaneswar and senior BJD leaders have been asked to be present at the meeting.

But, the decision of the party chief is likely to be announced tomorrow morning.

“We are told by our party seniors to be at Naveen Nivas between 9.30am and 10am tomorrow. Our party supremo will declare the name as he did for the mayor,” said a newly elected councillor, who did not want to be quoted.

According to the practice, Jena’s deputy is likely to be a woman. The newly elected 67-member council has as many as 38 women councillors.

Though Naveen prefers to keep his card close to his chest, two-time councillors Mahamaya Swain and K. Shanti, outgoing deputy mayor Bharati Singh and singer-turned-politician Pritinanda Routray are front-runners in the race.

Though all of them are of the view that the party supremo’s decision is final, sources said Swain and Singh were lobbying hard through senior BJD leaders.

Sources said that scheduled caste woman councillors — Basanti Singh and Jhunubala Dei — could also be part of the race.

However, political observers say that former deputy mayor Bharati Singh seems to stand a better chance as she belongs to the scheduled tribe community. She also belongs to Salia Sahi, the biggest slum cluster in the state. Sources said Swain was lobbying through a powerful MLA.

On the other hand, Routray happens to be the daughter of health minister Damodar Rout, while two-time councillor Shanti represents a slum and belongs to the Telugu community.

Civic body commissioner-cum-director of the municipal administration Sanjib Kumar Mishra said: “The notice for the election has been issued by the mayor’s office. The election process will start from 10am and the result will be announced by 1pm. In the case of more than one candidate, voting will be held.”