RAIRAKHOL: The BJD candidates won in 12 of the 13 Wards in Rairakhol NAC. One Ward went to the BJP kitty and Congress failed to open its account.
While Sunil Kumar Pradhan won from Ward 1, Nirupama Prusty won from Ward 2, Golapi Mukhi Ward 3, Nirmala Nayak Ward 4, Gopabandhu Bahuka Ward 5 and Sandhyarani Dehuri won from Ward 6.
While BJD candidate Aditya Narayan Pradhan won from Ward 7, it was Amrita Behera from Ward 8, Lakshmana Pradhan from Ward 9, Anita Panigrahi Ward 10, Pankajini Naik Ward 11 and Gyanaranjan Pradhan bagged Ward 12. The Chairperson seat is reserved for ST (Woman) and the party will choose between Sandhyarani and Pankajini who belong to the ST category.
The lone BJP candidate Mamata Sahu won in Ward 13 defeating BJD rival Banita Karna by a margin of 94 votes. The poll also saw defeat of former BJP chairperson from the NAC Sushma Munda by a thin margin of seven votes in Ward 6.
There was a close fight between the BJD and the BJP in Ward 3 where BJP candidate Subhasini Behera lost by six votes. BJD candidate from Ward 11 won by the highest margin of 346 votes.
Rairakhol MLA Rohit Pujari who led the party in the poll attributed the win to confidence of people on the leadership of party supremo, Naveen Patnaik.
On the other hand, the BJP cried foul and member of BJP State Executive Govind Agrawal said it was stage-managed election.
He charged the BJD workers of assaulting BJP workers and accused police of inaction.
13 Wards go to BJD
Bhawanipatna: The BJD won 13 Wards of the total 14 in Dharamgarh NAC and one seat went to Congress. Here, the chairperson post is reserved for SC (woman) candidate. Of the 14 Wards, Wards 11 and 3 are reserved for SC women.
While Congress won Ward 11, BJD’s Hira Bag bagged Ward 3.
Political observers said Bag is all set to become the first chairperson of the newly formed NAC as she has the support of 12 BJD Ward members and is the only SC woman winning candidate of the ruling party.