Ejaz Dhebar elected Mayor; Pramod Dubey becomes Speaker
Date :07-Jan-2020
Staff Reporter :
RAIPUR,
It was a smooth sailing for Congress Mayoral candidate Ejaz Dhebar as he comfortably won the Mayor’s election by 41-29 in a hectic day at Raipur Municipal Corporation (RMC) and with that the Capital city got its third Congress Mayor in a row on Monday. Congress grabbed the Speaker post with the election of ex-Mayor Pramod Dubey, who defeated BJP Candidate Dr Pramod Kumar Sahu by 39-31. The Speaker’s election was held in succession to the Mayor’s election on the same day. The day at RMC headquarter began with the oath taking ceremony of all the corporators, which was followed by all important indirect election of Mayor.
There were clear indications of Ejaz emerging as the most prominent candidate for the post and he further consolidated his position by managing to rope in the Independent Corporators a couple of days before the election. The Independent Corporators confirmed their support to Congress Party after holding a meeting with Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. There wasn’t much twist or turn in the election except an off objection taken by Suryakant Rathore, who demanded cancellation of the election, citing the reasons that the notification was issued on January 4 and it is mandatory to give week’s notification before the election. His second reason was that the notification was issued by RMC Commissioner and not the Collector. Clarifying on the issue, CEO Dr S Bharatidasan rejected the appeal of Suryakant, Collector explained that the notification was issued on December 28, 2020 and the RMC Commissioner had his authorization to issue the Notification.
As the Chief Electoral Officer cum Collector Dr S Bharatidasan set the nomination process on rolling, four BJP corporators as Suryakant Rathore, Mrityunjai Dubey, Minal Choubey and Dr Pramod Kumar Sahu filed the papers whereas Dhebar was only candidate fielded by Congress. Verification went without any twist, but three BJP candidates as Suryakant Rathore, Minal Choubey and Dr Pramod Kumar Sahu withdrew their nominations. So, the there was a direct duel between Mrityunjai Dubey and Ejaz Dhebar.
Counting was started soon after the end of voting. Ejaz lead the counting right from the get go and won the election as all three bundles of ballot papers were taken into account. Soon as the Counting ended, Congress Corporators erupted in jubilation as supporters flood the street in front of RMC Headquarter, dancing and bursting firecrackers till late evening.