By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, February 28, 2022: Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal is all set to notch up a record of sort as it heads towards a landslide victory in the three-tire panchayat polls leaving opposition BJP and Congress far behind as counting on Monday revealed the Naveen Patnaik-led party had expanded its strong grip in the coastal state.

The latest trend issued by the State Election Commission (SEC) showed the BJD had already won or was leading in 762 Zilla Parishad seats compared to BJP’s 46 and Congress’s 36 seats. Independents are leading in just three seats, other parties are ahead in four.

Of the 620 ZP seats results announced so far, the BJD secured 552 seats followed by BJP’s 31 and Congress’s 30. Independents and others share just 7 declared seats. These votes were counted on the two previous days while the counting process was underway in 331 other seats on Monday.

Taking both the results declared and the trend, the BJD is heading towards smashing all previous records. The regional party had secured 651 ZP seats in 2012 panchayat elections while its tally was 476 in the 2017 elections. There are 852 ZP seats in Odisha.

On the other hand, the opposition BJP, which secured 297 ZP seats in 2017 elections, this time is about to lose nearly 250 seats while Congress may also see its tally come down to 36 seats in 2022 from 60 seats in 2017. Considering this trend, the BJD is likely to form Parishads in all 30 districts of the state, including the saffron party bastions of western Odisha, Mayubhanj in north and Malkangiri in southern region.

In western Odisha from where the saffron party won six of its 8 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 general elections, and 169 of 212 Zilla Parishad in 2017, the BJP is seen as coming a cropper. BJP’s strongholds in Bolangir, Nuapada, Sonepur, Kalahandi, Bargarh, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Sundargarh, Malkangiri and Mayurbhanj have given it little succour this time round.

The BJD has almost reversed the results here this time with the trends indicating an 80 per cent win in these districts.

The results of the panchayat elections is significant as it will have an impact on the ensuing general elections for the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) which is scheduled to be held on March 24, 2022.

Altogether 2.2 lakh candidates were in the fray and the SEC has already declared 36,523 ward members, 126 Sarpanchs, 326 Samiti members, and one Zilla Parishad nominee as elected uncontested.