Ruling BJD Sweeps Civic Poll In Odisha, Captures Mayor Post In All Three Municipal Corporations 

Bhubaneswar, March 26 : Ruling Biju Janata Dal( BJD) in Odisha swept the civic bodies poll capturing all the three municipal corporations and 73 of 105 municipalities and NACs,the results of which were announced on Saturday.BJD’s Sulochana Das and Sanghamitra Dalai were elected as Mayor of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and Berhampur Municipal Corporation(BeMC) respectively.

The government has this time reserved the Mayor post for women for both Bhubaneswar and Berhumpur Municipal corporations.Similarly, BJD candidate and Rajya Sabha member Subash Sungh was also elected as Mayor of Cuttack Municipal Corporation. Sulochana Das presently holding the State Commissioner for Persons with Disability defeated BJP candidate Sunuti Mund by a huge margin of over 60,000 votes to capture the Mayor of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation.Congress candidate Madhusmita Acharya however lost her deposit in the election polling 11,006 votes.In Cuttack Municipal Corporation, BJD candidate Subash Singh defeated his nearest Congress candidate Giribala Behera by a margin of over 45,000 votes .BJP candidate and Odia film actor Sritam Das relegated to third position securing 49223 votes.In Berhumpur Municipal Corporation BJD candidate Sanghamitra Dalei won the Mayor post defeating her nearest BJP candidate Sabita Suar by a margin of over 20,000 votes.Congress candidate Manju Rath lost the deposit securing only 6768 votes.

The ruling Biju Janata Dal( BJD)grabbed the chairperson post in 73 municipalities /NACs while the BJP won 16 municipalities/NACs.The Congress candidates managed to win chairperson post in seven civic bodies .The Independent candidates however, captured chairperson post in nine civic bodies.For the first time elections to the Mayor post in Municipal Corporations and Chairperson post in Civic bodies were held directly in the state.In the last civic bodies elections, held nine years back, the ruling BJD had won chairperson post in 80 civic bodies.

The Opposition BJP which had won chairperson post in only three civic bodies in last elections, increased its strength by capturing chairperson post in 16 civic bodies.The Opposition Congress which had won chairperson post in 13 civic bodies in the last elections, however, managed to win chairperson post only in seven civic bodies.The independents have increased their strength from six chairperson posts in the last elections to nine chairperson posts this time.As far as voting share of the three major political parties is concerned the ruling BJD had garnered 69 percent votes followed by BJP( 15.23percent) and the Congress( 6.6 percent).