ROURKELA: Continuing its winning streak, the ruling BJD won 11 of the 17 posts of Panchayat Samiti (PS) or block chairpersons in the tribal-dominated Sundargarh district on Saturday. The BJD supported candidates swept all three blocks - Kuanrmunda, Nuagaon and Bisra - under Birmitrapur Assembly Constituency (AC) which has a BJP MLA Shankar Oram. The BJD also won the Bonai block.
However, CPM clinched the Koida, Lahunipada and Gurundia blocks under Bonai AC which has always been its stronghold. In fact, the CPM-backed chairperson for Koida block was elected unopposed. In the Congress bastion of Rajgangpur AC too the BJD won the Lathikata, Rajgangpur and Kutra blocks.
In the BJP citadel of Sundargarh AC the BJD emerged victorious in Hemgir and Lefripada blocks, while the BJP managed to win the Sundargarh Sadar and Tangarpali blocks. Moreover, in the BJP stronghold Talsara AC the BJD won the Subdega and Balishankara blocks, while BJP won only in Bargaon block.
The elections to the posts of block chairpersons were held at respective block offices on Saturday with 279 PS members electing 17 block chairpersons. Shortly after declaration of results for PS Members, political parties fearing poaching by rivals, had kept the newly-elected PS Members at undisclosed locations.
In the just concluded 35-member Sundargarh ZP election, the BJD had bagged a staggering 33 seats, while the BJP and CPM got one each. BJD’s success in the rural polls in Sundargarh is nothing less than phenomenal as it had only two MLAs from the seven ACs in the district, that too from urban pockets Rourkela and RN Pali.
Rourkela MLA and Sundargarh District Planning Committee chairman Sarada Prasad Nayak attributed BJD’s success in the rural polls to the popularity of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and the government’s welfare works.
BJD bags 10 out of 13 seats
Bhawanipatna: The BJD continued with its winning spree by clinching 10 posts in the panchayat samiti chairperson elections across 13 blocks of Kalahandi district on Saturday. As per reports, BJP candidates won in two blocks - Bhawanipatna and Jaipatna and one independent candidate in Kalampur block. Rest 10 samiti chairperson posts went in favour of BJD. In Lanjigarh, Kamala Patra of BJD won against party’s rebel candidate Srimati Majhi, wife of former minister Balabhadra Majhi. Sources say, Kamla’s victory is being viewed as significant as Majhi’s family was exercising its stronghold in the block for the last two decades. She won against Srimati by a margin of six votes.