Odisha civic poll results: BJD on the verge of a landslide victory

BHUBANESWAR: After winning over 90 per cent of the zilla parishad seats in the just-concluded Odisha panchayat polls, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD appears to be headed for a sweep in the civic body elections held on Thursday.

By noon, the BJD either won or was leading in 75 chairpersons/mayor posts of the 108 civic bodies followed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 16, and the Congress, 7. Counting of votes in Dhamnagar Notified Area Council of Bhadrak district has been held up due to stabbing of a BJP worker on Thursday. The BJD was leading comfortably in all the three municipal corporations of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Berhampur.

Of the 1899 posts of councillors/corporators where elections were held, the BJD was leading in 1199 of the 1749 posts where trends were available. The BJP was at a distant second leading in 293 posts while the Congress was ahead in only 136 posts.

Nearly 65 percent of the total 40.55 lakh voters exercised their franchise in the elections to urban local bodies that were held after a gap of almost 10 years. For the first time, direct election was held for the posts of chairperson and mayors in the ULBs.