By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, February 21, 2017 : The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) discovered a strong rival in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as 77% voters turned out in the fifth and final phase of the three-tier Panchayat polls in Odisha on Tuesday.

In the final phase, the BJD has won 68 Zilla Parishad zones while its arch rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has shown its strength in 56 zones, though final results were not official announced.

“In the fifth phase the voter turnout was 77%. Barring stray incidents of poll-related violence at some places, the voting was peaceful,” said State Election Commissioner R N Senapati.

The official said, the highest 88% turnout was recorded in Sonepur district while Ganjam district witnessed the lowest with 67%.

Officials said, the overall polling percentage in the three-tier rural polls in the State stood at 74%.

The Congress which had won as many as 126 seats of the 851 ZP seats in the last rural polls in 2012, has captured 12 of the 150 zones which went to polls on Tuesday.

Going by the unofficial results of the four phases of the rural polls, the BJD has been able to maintain its supremacy in the coastal districts though the BJP has made heavy inroads into strongholds of the ruling party. BJP’s gain in Jagagsinghpur, Kendrapara and Cuttack has surprised many.

Trends indicated that the ruling BJD is now in a position to form Zilla Parishads in 13 districts- Jagatsinghpur, Ganjam, Kendrapara, Angul, Balasore, Bhadrak, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Puri, Nuapada, Koraput, Jajpur and Keonjhar. The situation remained unclear in Rayagada, Nabarangpur and Sundargarh districts where the BJP show has improved.

However, the BJP has established its dominance in the entire Western Odisha belt except in Nuapada and Jharsuguda districts and is in a position to form Zilla Parishads in Kalahandi, Mayurbhanj, Malkangiri, Bolangir, Sonepur, Sambalpur, Bargarh and Deogarh districts.

The BJP is hopeful that the party will gain control of the zila parishads in 8 of the 30 districts, a huge improvement from its dismal performance in the 2012 polls.