The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has swept the elections to Urban local Bodies (UlBs) in western Odisha. The polls were held for in 20 UlBs on Friday and results were announced on Saturday.
The BJD won in 15 UlB councils, while the Congress and the BJP won only one council each. The picture is unclear in the three other councils, Rajgangpur, Kesinga and Khariar. The BJD won in as many as 196 of the 306 wards. While the main Opposition Congress registered victory in 57 wards, the BJP managed to win only in 35. Independents and others got 18 wards.
The BJD had won 47 of the 66 UlBs in the earlier round of civic polls held in the coastal and southern parts of the State a couple of months ago this year.
The BJD in this phase of the elections bagged these UlBs: Bhawanipatna municipality and Junagarh NAC in Kalahandi district; Sundargarh Municipality and Biramitrapur Municipality in Sundargarh district; Binka NAC, Tarabha NAC and Sonepur Municipality in Subarnapur district; Kantabanji NAC in Blangir district; Bargarh municipality in Bargarh district; Khariar Road NAC in Nuapada district; Kuchinda NAC in Sambalpur district; Deogarh Municipality in Deogarh district and Jharsuguda Municipality and Brajarajnagar Municipality in Jharsuguda district.
The Congress won the Barpali NAC in Bargarh district while Patnagarh NAC in Balangir district went to the BJP. No clear picture emerged in three UlBs: Rajgangpur municipality of Sundargarh district (BJD-10, Congress-2, BJP-3 & Others-5); Kesinga NAC of Kalahandi district (Congress-5, BJP-4 & BJD-3) and Khariar NAC of Nuapada district (BJD and Congress have got six each out of 13 seats).