Bilaspur mayor errs in oath taking; pronounces 'samprabhuta' as 'sampradayikta'

Bilaspur: Newly-elected mayor Puja Vidhani of Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh committed a faux pas on Friday by uttering "sampradayikta" (communalism) instead of "samprabhuta" (sovereignty) while taking oath of office following which she was sworn in for a second time.

#Bilaspur : Chairman of 2nd largest city of #Chhattisgarh couldn't read oath script in Hindi properly. She read Sampradayikta (communalism) instead of Samprabhuta (Sovereignty). pic.twitter.com/7wNUDOhMl7

— Siddharth Purohit (@sidpvishnu) February 28, 2025

Deputy Chief Minister Arun Sao and Union Minister Tokhan Sahu were present as guests at the oath taking ceremony held here at Mungeli Naka ground where Bilaspur Collector Awnish Kumar Sharan administered oath to Vidhani and 70 corporators.

"Main Bharat ki sampradayikta tatha akhandata akshunn rakhungi (I will uphold communalism and integrity of India)," Vidhani said, prompting the collector to intervene to correct her, though she continued with the oath.

After a few minutes, she had to take the oath for the second time with the correct word.

In the recently held urban body elections in the state, the ruling BJP registered a landslide victory. It won mayoral posts in all ten municipal corporations.

Of the chairperson post in 49 municipal councils, BJP won 35, Congress eight, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) one, while independent candidates grabbed five.

Similarly, BJP managed to win the post of chairperson in 81 out of 114 nagar panchayats. The Congress registered 22 wins, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) one, while independent candidates wrested 10.

Of the total 3,200 posts of ward corporators, BJP won 1,868, Congress 952 and other parties and independents 380.