As the election results for the three newly-formed Notified Area Councils (NACs) in the State were announced on Thursday, it became apparent that the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) had received its first electoral setback after parting ways with MP Pyarimohan Mohapatra.
What made it worse for the BJD was the fact that the Mohapatra-led Odisha Jan Morcha (OJM) achieved major success in the Hindol NAC, which is the constituency of BJD MlA Anjali Behera, a known Mohapatra supporter.
Behera was ousted from the Ministry in the wake of Mohapatra's revolt against party president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik last year. Though Behera publicly proclaims that she accepts Patnaik as her leader, political observers feel she virtually continues to be in the Mohapatra camp.
Apart from OJM, the Opposition Congress party candidates won the maximum seats in Hindol, Attaabira and Nuapada.
In the 16-member Hindol NAC in Dhenkanal district, six out of the seven OJM-backed Independent candidates won the elections. While the Congress bagged seven seats, the BJD won only two and the BJP one. In the 14-ward Nuapada NAC in Nuapada district, the Congress won seven seats, the BJD four and the BJP three.
In the 12-member Attabira NAC in Bargarh district, the BJD and the Congress bagged six seats each. While the Congress led by its Attabira MlA Nihar Mahanand put up a united fight, the factionalism in the BJD cost the party a few wards. The BJD and the Congress had fielded candidates in all the 42 wards in the three NACs while the BJP had put up 39 candidates.