Saffron party rides on anti-incumbency against BJD and infighting in Congress
The Biju Janata Dal that made the BJP its coalition partner 17 years ago has now found the saffron party emerging as its main challenger by overtaking the Congress in the just-concluded panchayat elections in the State.
The BJP has done unexpectedly well, taking full advantage of two major factors – anti-incumbency against the ruling BJD and infighting in the Congress, which is still the main opposition in the State Assembly.
Congress cornered
The BJP, which was in power in Odisha as part of the BJD-BJP coalition from 2000 to 2009, has not only cornered the Congress votes to win more Zilla Parishad seats but has also been able to erode the BJD’s vote base in many pockets.
Although the BJD has remained the single largest party by winning 473 of the 846 Zilla Parishad seats, the BJP has improved its tally to 297 and the Congress has finished a distant third with 60 seats. The BJD had won 651 Zilla Parishad seats, while the Congress had got 128 and the BJP just 36 in the 2012 panchayat polls.
The eight districts where the BJP has secured majority to form Zilla Parishads or district councils are located in interior Odisha or adjoining neighbouring Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
The districts are Malkangiri, Kalahandi, Balangir, Bargarh, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Subarnapur and Mayurbhanj where the BJD had secured majority in 2012.
The BJD had won the majority of seats in as many as 28 of the total 30 districts in the State in 2012. The party has secured clear majority in 16 districts in this election.
The Congress has bagged the majority of Zilla Parishad seats in just one district – Jharsuguda, where it had won the majority the last time too. The five districts where no party has secured a clear majority are Gajapati, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Sundargarh and Kandhamal. The three parties are now trying their best to form a Parishad by managing support from each other or independents.
BJP Entry in Jajpur
An analysis of the results makes it clear that the BJP has won the majority of Zilla Parishad seats in areas which it represented in the Lok Sabha and State Assembly from 2000 to 2009.
The difficult areas in the coastal region where the BJP has made major inroads into the BJD strongholds in this election are Kendrapara district, where it won 10 seats out of the 32 with the BJD winning 22, and Khurda district where it has won 10 of the 30 seats with the BJD winning 20 seats. The party also made it presence felt for the first time in Jajpur and Jagatsinghpur in the coastal belt.
Besides, the BJP has increased its tally in Dhenkanal and Angul districts from two seats each in the last panchayat poll to 12 seats each in this elections. The party had presence in these two districts during its alliance with the BJD.
In the post-poll scenario, while a buoyed BJP is trying to maintain momentum with its eyes set on the civic body polls next year and general elections in 2019 and the Congress is grappling with the voices of dissent over the party's poor performance, the BJD has started the process of course correction.
‘Will work harder’
Reacting to the poll outcome in which his party has returned as the largest party with 56% seats, Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik has said that they will review their performance very seriously and will work harder to get reconnected to the people.
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