BHUBANESWAR: On a day during which BJP national president Amit Shah claimed that his party will win more than 120 seats in the next assembly elections in Odisha, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) swept the elections to two Notified Area Councils (NACs) inflicting a crushing defeat on its rivals.
Though the number of electorates of the two NACs were less than 25,000, the pattern of voters' behaviour noticed from the results were quite similar to the by-poll to the Bijepur assembly constituency in which the BJD candidate trounced its BJP rival by a record margin of over 40,000.
The BJP finished as a distant second to the ruling BJD in both the NAC. However, BJP emerged as the only opposition to the regional outfit which improved its vote share in both the NACs. The Congress which had more than 30 percent vote share in these two urban bodies in the last urbal local body (ULB) polls in 2013 slumped to the third position.
In Attabira NAC of Bargarh district, the BJD won all 12 wards, while in Hindol NAC of Dhenkanal district, the ruling party secured 13 out of 16 wards. While BJP won from one ward in Hindol, independents won two. Congress drew a blank in both the ULBs with its vote share slumping to 12.43 percent in Attabira and 2.72 percent in Hindol.
The vote share of BJD in Attabira NAC increased from 44 percent in 2013 to 59.52 percent now while in Hindol the ruling party improved vote share from 35 percent in 2013 to 51.39 percent now. The BJP's vote share in Attabira and Hindol improved from six percent to 25.84 percent and from 11 percent to 31.82 percent respectively.
Meanwhile, chief minister Naveen Patnaik dismissed Shah's claim that the BJP will win more than 120 seats in Odisha in the next assembly elections. “It is very very exaggerated,” he told media persons here.
As the base of the Congress is crumbling all over the state, the party's Odisha in-charge Jitendra Singh in likely to visit the state within a week to take stock of the organisational situation.