BJD makes landslide victory in rural polls in Odisha

Bhubaneswar, March 1 (IANS) The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) led by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has made a landslide victory by winning 90 per cent Zilla Parishad seats in the three-tier Panchayat elections, whose final result was declared on Tuesday.

Out of the total 853 Zilla Parishad (ZP) zones in the state, elections were held on 851 seats and the BJD won 765. Of the remaining two seats, a BJD candidate won one ZP seat uncontested while the election for another seat was contested. So in total, the BJD was able to grab 766 ZP seats.

BJD's principal rival BJP could manage to secure only 42 seats, followed by Congress with 37 seats. Independent candidates won three seats while others got four seats, the State Election Commission (SEC) said on Tuesday.

BJD, the ruling party in Odisha, has gained 290 more seats as compared to its performance in the previous Panchayat polls of 2017. The party had won 476 ZP seats in the last poll.

The BJP, which had won 297 ZP seats in 2017 elections, has now come down to 42.

The Congress party's performance has also remained poor as its tally came down to 37 from 60 ZP seats it had secured in 2017.

The ZP seats won by independents and others have also come down to 7 from 16 in the 2017 polls.

Out of 2.10 crore valid votes polled in the rural polls, the BJD has got 1.10 crore votes (52.73 per cent) while BJP got only 63.23 lakh votes (30.07 per cent), Congress got 28.54 lakh votes (13.57 per cent). The other party and independent candidates got 3.16 per cent votes.

With 52.73 per cent vote share in the 2022 panchayat polls, the BJD created a sort of record as it is the highest-ever vote share in any election the party has fought so far.

With its landslide victory, the BJD is now all set to form the council in all 30 districts of Odisha. The BJP, which had formed the Zilla Parishad in eight districts in 2017, is not in a position to form the council in any district.

As per the final result, the BJP has failed to win any of the ZP seats in 10 districts while the Congress party got zero in 18 districts.

BJD President Naveen Patnaik has thanked the people of Odisha for their support that led to the massive victory of his party in the election. "This massive mandate has further strengthened our commitment to public service. My congratulations to the winning candidates and all party workers who turned the BJD into a movement through dedicated work," Patnaik said in a tweet.

Respecting the mandate of the people, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said, "Odisha is getting maximum benefit from welfare programmes of the Union government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's emphasis to eastern India. We will strengthen our organization and work hard to ensure welfare programmes of the Modi government reach the people."

He congratulated the elected BJP candidates, party workers and expressed his gratitude to the 63.23 lakh voters, who have voted his party in the three-tier Panchayat elections.

Admitting his party's defeat in the poll, State Congress president Niranjan Patnaik alleged that the BJD has taken advantage by spending funds through various government schemes.