Odisha BJP chairperson of Phulbani municipality loses no-confidence motion

Phulbani (Odisha), Jul 23 (PTI) The Chairperson of Phulbani municipality in Odisha, Smita Rani Mohanty of BJP, lost a no-confidence motion brought against her on Tuesday, an official said.
    The incident occurred within two months after the saffron party came to power in Odisha.As many as 11 of the total 13 councillors participated in the voting process.
    Eleven councillors voted in favour of the no-confidence motion, while one vote was rejected.
    However, two other BJP councillors and the chairperson remained absent during voting, the official said.
    Chitta Ranjan Mohan Phulbani, Sub-Collector, also the returning officer for the voting process, said the chairperson lost the no-confidence motion.
    Now, the state government will decide how the municipality will run in future, he said.
    Out of the 13 wards, BJD had won 7, BJP 4 and 2 went to independent candidates in the polls held in March 2022.
    Mohanty was directly elected as the municipality chairperson after she defeated BJD's Punam Kanhar.
    According to the officials, the no-trust motion against the BJP chairman was brought before the Kandhamal collector, alleging that Mohanty indulged in corruption, financial irregularities and misbehaving with the councillors and subordinates.
    As many as eleven councillors, including two from the BJP, had signed the motion and demanded the collector Ashish Ishwar Patil to conduct the no-confidence vote against Mohanty on April 10.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)