BHUBANESWAR: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) registered a convincing victory in the Kendrapara municipality polls despite seat understanding between the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and high profile campaign by the Opposition parties. On its part, the BJD had also left no stone unturned in a bid to win the poll. While the BJD secured a clear majority by winning from 13 wards in the 21-member council, the Congress finished second by getting five seats. The BJP, NCP and an Independent won one seat each. While BJD fielded candidates from all the 21 candidates, the Congress contested 19 seats, leaving two seats for its new found ally in the State, NCP. The BJP contested from 16 wards. The victory has again established the supremacy of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in Odisha politics. At least eight ministers, a dozen MLAs and three MPs took part in the campaigning.Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik, former MP Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, Union minister Srikant Jena and several other senior leaders campaigned for the Congress in the urban body poll. Besides local issues, the series of scams against the Naveen Patnaik Government were the talking points of the Opposition parties. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister thanked the voters of Kendrapara for the victory. “I thank the people of Kendrapara for reposing faith in our party,” Naveen told mediapersons soon after the poll results were out. The Congress, however, cried foul by alleging that money and muscle power, along with use of official machinery, resulted in the victory of the BJD. PCC general secretary Arya Kumar Gyanendra alleged that though these were brought to the notice of the authorities, no action was taken. Stating that the Congress had demanded voting through ballot papers raising doubts over the reliability of the electronic voting machines (EVMs), Gyanendra said this was not accepted by the State Election Commission.
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