The elections to the 20 Urban local Bodies (UlBs) spread over nine districts of western Odisha witnessed overall 69 per cent voters’ turnout.
About 4.93 crore voters exercised their franchise as the polling took place on Friday. The results are set to be out on Saturday with three major players asserting to constitute councils in a majority of civic bodies. Polling process, by and large, passed off peacefully in the nine districts as adequate security arrangements were taken up in the Maoists-infested areas, State Election Commission (SEC) Special Secretary Rabindra Nath Sahoo said.
Sahoo informed that voting, which started from 8 am, was affected for a brief period in three booths due to snags in the EVMs. The voting process was completed without any further problem with rectification and installation of new EVMs during the extended time after 5 pm, he said.
According to the voting details, highest 81 per cent of the voters’ turnout was recorded in Kesinga NAC in Kalahandi district, while the lowest polling was recorded in the politically important Bhawanipatna Municipality.
In Kuchinda NAC in Sambalpur district, the polling was 80 per cent, followed by 75 per cent in Khariar Road NAC, 74 per cent in Khariar NAC, 72 per cent each in Junagarah and Binka, 70 per cent each in Patnagarah, Kantabanji, Barpali and Sonepur UlBs. In Bargarh, the voter’s turnout was only 65 per cent. Similarly, voters’ turnout was 68 per cent each in Tarabha and Rajgangpur and 62 per cent in Brajarajnagar urban body. Sahoo said that EVMs have been kept in strong rooms with foolproof security arrangements. Counting of votes would be taken up on Saturday at 8 am amid tight security in 20 centres. Provision of video recording of the counting process in the central counting centres would be made to avoid any controversy in presence of poll observers, counting agents and EVM experts, he said.
In the last UlB elections, while BJD constituted seven councils, Congress six and BJP had formed councils in five UlBs. Polling was held in 506 booths, including 53 hyper-sensitive ones, to elect councilors in 301 Wards in 20 UlBs. The nine municipalities were Baragarh, Deogarh, Brajarajnagar, Jharsuguda, Sonepur, Biramitrapur, Rajgangpur and Sundergarh, while the eleven NACs include Patnagarh, Kantabanji, Barpali, Padmapur, Kesinga, Junagaah, Khariar Road, Khariar, Kuchinda, Binka and Tarava.
This was the second phase of UlB polls in the State. Earlier, on August 19, polling to 66 UlBs in 20 districts was held including the Brahmapur Municipal Corporation. The SEC had notified elections to 91 UlBs, but the elections had to be postponed due to boycott by all political parties in 25 UlBs in western Odisha supporting the demand of a Central Action Committee of lawyers for establishment of High Court bench.
In Friday’s polling of the total 1,102 candidates whose fates have been sealed, 301 were from ruling BJD, followed by 268 from BJP and 265 from Congress. Direct fight was witnessed in 26 wards, while triangular fight in 144 Wards and quadrangle fight in 61 Wards were witnessed.
Brajarajnagar Municipality, consisting of 23 Wards, had record number of 113 candidates in the fray, followed by 96 candidates against 19 Wards in Rajgangpur and 81 candidates for 24 Wards in Jharsuguda. Baragarah Municipality is the home town of the Finance Minister Prasanna Acharya and his elder brother and ex-Minister Ananda Acharya, where the Minister had been campaigning extensively, besides Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to keep the BJD forte intact. On the other hand, the Congress had made brisk campaign to snatch the body from BJD as the Baragarh constituency is represented by Congress MlA Sadhu Nepak.
However, the stake is high for BJP State Chief KV Singh Deo who had invested all his strategies so as to keep 20 years of BJP supremacy intact in the Patnagarah NAC despite the effort by the BJD and particularly by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to make an inroad into the prestigious urban body. After all, the Patnagarah UlB is the headquarters of Singh Deo’s Assembly constituency Patnagarah. Any defeat would have serious political effect on his leadership in State BJP.
Similarly, Congress has faced close contest from the BJP and ruling BJD to wrest another prestigious and politically sensitive UlB Bhawanipatna which is also the home town of the AICC General Secretary and spokesperson Bhakta Charan Das. The Congress has been criticized by both the BJP and the BJD for not doing anything tangible for the citizens of Bhwanipatna. The risk of defeat would have a bearing on the political future of Das. Jharsuguda Municipality, which was constituted by the Congress, was the field of stiff contest in the current elections. If Congress is defeated, it would have also an effect on the poll prospects of Congress MlA Naba Kishore Das in the Assemble polls ahead.