Bhubaneswar/Cuttack, Jan. 4: Three councillors of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation "are eligible for ration cards under the National Food Security Act," mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said today.

Six BJD councillors had procured ration cards under the NFSA.

Official sources said four of the six councillors surrendered their ration cards following the controversy over large-scale irregularities in the list of beneficiaries, including one who was entitled to a ration card.

Jena said the three councillors were eligible for ration cards because they did not "have concrete houses". "They reside in thatched, polythene wrapped and asbestos houses. They do not fall under the nine exclusion criteria as laid down in the NFSA guidelines," Jena told The Telegraph.

The three eligible councillors are Basanti Singh (ward No. 20), Bharati Singh (ward No. 16) and Jhunibala Dei (ward No. 26).

BMC deputy commissioner and NFSA in charge Srimanta Mishra said six councillors were found to have been issued rations cards. Of them, four surrendered their cards after the irregularities came to light, while two others had not even taken their cards.

The three others who had been issued ration cards are Harekrishna Nayak (ward No. 22), Samir Pradhan (ward No. 15) and Premananda Jena (ward No. 21). Bharati and Jhunibala were issued the cards in their names, while the others were issued the cards in their relatives' names.

"We have asked the councillors to submit their cards and apply for online cancellation of their names. No other BJD councillor has been found to have ration cards. The committee, which has been set up to inquire into the matter, found no other irregularities in the scheme," Jena said.

Today, an emergency council meeting of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) today approved the resignation of mayor Anita Behera.

Behera had resigned from her position and corporation membership after her name figured in the list of beneficiaries for ration cards on December 29.

Her resignation was accepted by voice vote. Deputy mayor Ajay Barik placed Behera's resignation before the 59-member CMC council, where the BJD has 42 members. It was immediately proposed for acceptance by BJD's ward No. 31 councillor Bijay Sahoo and seconded by ward No. 9 councillor Bikash Behera.

The Congress and BJP members wanted proper verification of the resignation letter. However, Barik, who presided over the special session, adjourned the meeting after the voice vote. The session lasted for five minutes.

The CMC will now notify the vacancy to the State Election Commission, which in turn, will fix a date for by-election in Behera's constituency (ward No. 21).

The Congress councillors later staged a demonstration on the issue. "We had demanded that the resignation letter be read out, and be accepted after a discussion. But the proposal was approved in a hurry and all the BJD councillors left the meeting. This shows they have no respect for the democratic system," said Congress councillor Giribala Behera.

The Congress alleged that the ruling BJD is deliberately trying to delay the process of appointment of a new mayor.

"As the post of mayor is reserved for a Scheduled Castes woman, the BJD already has three elected councillors who can be nominated for the post. It is now evident that the BJD has conspired to hand over the post of the mayor to the present deputy mayor for its own interest," Behera said.

The Congress has also demanded the dissolution of the CMC council for irregularities in the preparation of ration cards and selection of beneficiaries under the NFSA.

"It is an unfortunate incident and the first of its kind in the CMC's history that such an important session ended in less than five minutes. The BJD councillors walked out from the meeting without any discussion on the matter," said BJP councillor from ward No. 58 Rajkumari Swain.

Barik has been appointed as the city's acting mayor.

"The opposition parties are protesting without any reason as today's emergency council meeting had only one agenda, and that was the approval of the mayor's resignation. There has been no violation as the motion was approved by a majority vote," said Barik.