Jajpur: The chairperson of Vyas Nagar Municipality in Jajpur district, Sangeeta Pingua of Biju Janata Dal (BJD), lost a no-confidence vote brought against her by her own party on Wednesday, an official said. Twenty of the total 26 councilors participated in the voting. Almost all 20 votes were counted against her, demonstrating a significant faction within the BJD. However, at least six councilors, including four from BJD, abstained from voting. The polling for the no-confidence vote began on Wednesday at 12 pm. As many as 20 councilors, 16 from BJD and 4 from Congress, reached the venue and all voted against Sangeeta.

The Opposition required 18 votes to succeed but ultimately secured 20 votes against the chairperson. Kalinga Nagar Additional District Magistrate Sapan Kumar Nanda, also the Returning Officer for the voting process, said the chairperson lost the no-confidence motion. In the 26-member Vyas Nagar Municipality, the BJD has 20 members followed by five of Congress and one BJP councilor. Before the vote, Sangeeta openly criticised her party’s leadership, accusing them of reducing functionaries to ‘rubber stamps’.

According to political observes, the voting pattern underscores underlying tensions and aligns with broader dissent expressed by some members within the BJD. The turn of events might affect local governance and BJD’s stature in the region. This is the third such incident in Vyas Nagar Municipality in the last nine years. The no-confidence motion against Vyas Nagar Municipality chairperson Sabita Rout in 2016 and 2017 had failed when BJD councilors strategically abstained from voting.