Insight Bureau: Call it a minority consolidation or massive public outreach campaign based on their ‘good work’, the husband-wife duo Jahid Habib and Gulmaki Dalwazi stunned all political parties, including BJD, BJP and Congress in Bhadrak Municipality.

While contesting the elections as an Independent Candidate, Gulmaki prevailed upon her rivals and got elected as the Chairperson of Bhadrak Municipality. She secured 28,115 votes to defeat BJD candidate Samita Mishra (24,859 votes) by a margin of 3256 votes. BJP candidate Gitanjali Padhiari (6787) and Congress Candidate Amitbala Acharya (1907) failed to impress the voters.

Jahid Habib, a former Councillor in Bhadrak Municipality, who is an ardent follower of late Biju Babu, was hopeful of getting a BJD ticket for his wife. But, as things did not go their way, his wife entered the poll arena as an Independent candidate. Both Habib and Gulmaki left no stones unturned to reach out to the people with a massive street-level campaign.

While it was easy for them to convince the Muslim voters in Bhadrak which as a sizeable minority population, they also reached out to Hindu families to seek their blessings. Gulmaki was seen touching the feet of the elders and seeking their blessings on Holi and other special occasions. Everything worked in their favour, as the voters wanted to vote for a change.

Gulmaki is upbeat about her stunning win in Bhadrak Municipality and she knows about the future challenges. It won’t be easy for her to maintain the ‘Bhaichara’ or ‘Brotherhood’ in Bhadrak in view of the volatile atmosphere prevailed across the country. However, she is confident of contributing her bit to peace, harmony and development in Bhadrak.