PHULBANI: The fourth phase brought to an end the panchayat polls in Kandhamal district. Voting to all the 18 Zilla Parishad, 153 Sarpanch, 153 Samiti member and 1,419 ward member posts concluded on Friday.
The BJD which is doing good in the entire State is struggling to form the ZP here. The party candidates have won in only six of the 18 seats.
The Congress is hopeful to capture the ZP with eight seats. The role of the four BJP ZP candidates is said to be vital in this situation.
District Congress Committee president RK Digal said he was hopeful of forming the ZP with the help of BJP.
On the other hand, the District Youth BJD president Saroj Kumar Karna told this paper that all efforts would be made to retain the Kandhamal ZP seat.