Bhubaneswar: Naveen Pattnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has maintained its dominance in Odisha politics if we go by the trend in the recently concluded rural polls. The party is heading towards a clean sweep in 10 districts, with counting of votes of the recently-concluded three-tier Panchayat Polls-2022 underway in the state on Saturday.
The 10 districts where the party is heading towards a clean sweep are Bhadrak, Deogarh, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Kendrapada, Malkangiri, Nayagarh, Puri and Subarnapur.
As per latest information till 9 pm Saturday, BJD was leading in 278 out of 315 Zilla Parishad (ZP) zones while BJP candidates are leading 17 and Congress in 15. However, Congress has failed to open account in as many as 24 districts.
In western Odisha, where BJP had performed well in 2017, is heading towards a dismissal performance this year. The party had won Zilla Parisads 6 out of 10 districts, but initial trend show the party is struggling in almost all western Odisha districts. The ruling BJD is leading in 8 out 9 ZP Zones in the first day of counting. BJD is leading 3 out of 3 zones in Debgarh, 5 out of 5 zones in Jharsuguda distrtcs. In Balangir also, BJD is leading in 13 out of 15 ZP zones.
In Cuttack district, BJD candidates were leading in all ZP zones under 11 blocks, except Banki, Barang and Cuttack Sadar. In Cuttack Sadar, an Independent candidate is ahead of it rival candidates.