The ruling Biju Janata Dal, which had secured majority in 15 of the 20 urban local bodies in western Odisha in the elections held on November 22, managed to form Councils in as many as 17 places when the party’s elected nominees were elected chairpersons on Wednesday.
As many as 15 out of the 20 chairpersons elected were women, according to the State Election Commission.
While the BJD was able to form Councils in 15 ULBs without any difficulty, it managed to have its elected nominees as chairpersons in two more ULBs – Rajgangpur and Khariar Road – with the help of Independents and others.
Opposition Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party had their candidates elected as chairpersons in one ULB each, while the remaining was captured by an Independent.
While Congress constituted Council in Barpali, BJP in Patnagarh and Independent in Khariar.
The BJD candidates were elected as chairperson unopposed in five ULBs.
They were
Mamata Mishra in Binka, Simantini Nayak in Sonepur, Monika Agarwal in Tarabha, Rebati Balua in Kuchinda and Bidyutlata Bag in Kantabanji.
The BJD had won in 197 of the total 306 wards spread across the 20 ULBs in nine districts in the western region, while the Congress had won just 56 wards and BJP 35.
BJD winsThe BJD had also won the elections in two ULBs – Phulbani and G. Udaygiri – in Kandhamal district when the votes polled on Monday were counted on Tuesday.
The BJD had also managed to secure majority in a majority of ULBs when elections were held in 66 ULBs in the remaining regions of the State prior to the civic polls in western Odisha.
The party had constituted Councils in as many as 48 of the 66 ULBs in the first phase.
On the other hand, the BJD had started preparing for the civic polls to be held in Bhubaneswar Municipal Council in the near future. The State Election Commission was likely to announce the poll schedule for the BMC polls soon.
The election in the BMC will be followed by the polls in the Cuttack Municipal Corporation.
