BJD sweeps BMC polls, captures 49 of 67 wards

Bhubaneswar, Jan 9: Ruling

continued its victory in the ongoing urban local body polls by sweeping Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation election the result of which was declared on Thursday.

Ruling party candidates won in 49 of the 67 wards while the state's main opposition, Congress, could manage to get only two seats while BJP captured four, official sources said.

The Congress had won five seats out of 60 wards in the previous BMC elections. The party could not put up candidates in all the 67 wards and contested in 62.

BJD had put up candidates in all the 67 seats and BJP in 66 wards. Independents won in 12 wards, they said. The results of the BMC elections have gone the way of the two previous rounds of urban local bodies with the BJD leaving its rivals far behind. The BJD, improved its position.

Congress could manage to get only two seats while BJP captured four.

While it had won 40 seats last time it bagged 49 wards in the 2013 BMC polls. Former BMC Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena retained his ward number 47 while health minister Damodar Rout's daughter Pritinanda Routray won as BJD candidate from ward number 6.

In an apparent setback for the ruling party, Linkan Subuddhi, the candidate personally chosen by party supremo Naveen Patnaik, lost the election to a BJD rebel candidate in Ward No 8.

Subuddhi, who came to limelight after being attacked by goons for opposing child marriage in Noida last year, was picked up by the BJD and offered a party ticket. PCC president Jayadev Jena, however, accused the ruling party of using money and muscle power to win the polls.

PTI