NUAPADA: The BJD received a jolt after Bhanu Pratap Singh Majhi, who was suspended from the party recently, managed to grab the post of Nuapada Zilla Parishad (ZP) vice-president due to cross voting from the BJD. The election to the post was held here on Saturday.
Majhi won the election after getting support from five Congress ZP members. Apart from the Congress ZP members, one from the BJD voted for Majhi violating party whip.
However, BJD candidate for the post of ZP vice-president Priya Ranjan Meher got six votes. The BJD grabbed eight ZP seats while the Congress managed to capture five seats in the recently concluded panchayat poll. The BJP failed to open its account.
The district has 14 ZP seats of which, election was held in 13 ZP seats with the Orissa High Court putting on hold election to Komna-2 ZP seat.
Majhi, a noted tribal leader, along with district president of BJD Prasanna Padhi, was suspended from the BJD for alleged anti-party activities.
BJP candidate wins in Malkangiri
Malkangiri: The BJP ZP member, Sulata Mondal, was elected unopposed as the ZP vice-president here on Saturday. She was the only ZP member who filed the nomination for the post.
Earlier this month, Dasrath Podiami of the BJP was elected as the ZP president.
Of the 15-member ZP, election was held for 13 ZP zones and polling could not be held in two ZP zones under Chitrakonda block due to Maoist threat. The BJP bagged 10 zones, followed by Congress two and BJD one.