In landslide victory, BJD set to bag 90% of Odisha panchayat seats

Sujit kumar bisoyi / TNN / Updated: Feb 28, 2022, 09:48 IST

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Despite chief minister Naveen Patnaik not hitting the campaign trail in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and restrictions on gatherings, the ruling BJD is heading for a landslide victory in the panchayat election by smashing all previous records.

In landslide victory, BJD set to bag 90% of Odisha panchayat seats

Women waiting to cast their votes during the Odisha panchayat elections in Khordha last week

BHUBANESWAR: Despite Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik not hitting the campaign trail in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and restrictions on gatherings, the governing BJD is heading for a landslide victory in the panchayat election by smashing all previous records.Out of the total 853 zilla parishad zones in the state, elections were held in 851.The regional party has secured around 90% of the 315 zilla parishad seats, where results have been declared officially. BJD has, so far, won 281 seats while the two opposition parties — BJP and Congress — have secured only 15 and 14 seats, respectively. Independent candidates have won in two seats while fringe parties have bagged an equal number of seats.

Operation Sindoor

The result of one seat in Niali has not been declared.Early trend (at 8pm) of the second day of the counting on Sunday is also indicating a huge win for BJD, which is leading in 271 of the 306 zilla parishad zones, where counting is in progress. BJP and Congress are leading in 15 and 16 seats, respectively. The numbers are likely to change by the time of completion of counting. The counting of votes in the 230 remaining seats will beheld on Monday.

The initial results indicate that BJD is likely to form the zilla parishad councils in almost all 30 districts, while both the opposition parties have failed to open an account in as many as 20 districts after the first day of counting.JP has lost out to BJD’s strategy in the western districts besides Mayurbhanj, traditionally known to be its strongholds, even as the saffron party had swept the region in the 2017 panchayat polls and formed zilla parishad councils in eight districts.BJP, which had won all five Lok Sabha seats in the western districts, along with the Mayurbhanj parliamentary constituency, in the 2019 general elections seems to be struggling to hold its base there. The opposition has failed to make a dent in BJD’s prospects despite hitting the streets over accusations against the BJD government on wide-ranging issues.

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