In a further setback to the ruling BJD, the Congress swept elections to the posts of chairpersons of all the three newly-formed Notified Area Councils (NACs), Hindol, Attabira and Nuapada, on Saturday.
Elections of the councillors of the civic bodies were held on April 3 with the Congress getting single largest majorities at Hindol and Nuapada and equally sharing the 12 seats of the Attabira NAC.
Out of the total 42 seats in stake, the Congress won 20, the BJD 12, the BJP four and the Odisha Jan Morcha-backed independent candidates (Hindol) six.
Getting the support of six independent councillors, the post of NAC in Hindol in Dhenkanal district was won by Sulochana Behera, in Attabira, Sunita Bag and Sudespa Sweraja in Nuapada. The election for vice chairpersons will be held on April 25.
Interestingly, the chairperson posts in Attabira and Nuapada NACs, which were reserved for SC (Woman) candidates and ST candidates respectively, were bagged by Congress as BJD had no candidate to field belonging to these categories.