BJD wrests Bhadrak civic body from Congress

BHADRAK: The BJD, having won 18 wards out of 30, has wrested power from the Congress in Bhadrak municipality. The Congress captured 11 wards while the BJP had to be content with one seat. Outgoing chairperson Hemangini Sahoo of Congress lost in ward 28.
In Basudevpur NAC, the Congress ousted the BJD from power by capturing 16 wards out of a total of 23. The BJD won the rest seven seats.
Though 65 independent candidates were in the fray in Bhadrak municipality, only five candidates could put up a tough fight and ended up second.
According to official sources, the result in ward 15 of Bhadrak municipality turned out to be a tie as the Congress and the BJD candidates got equal number of votes. But, Subhankar Mohapatra of the BJD won against Asis Rout of the Congress in a lottery.
"The victory of the BJD in Bhadrak municipality can only be attributed to popularity of the chief minister Naveen Patnaik and the schemes he launched for the poor," said Bhadrak MLA Jugal Kishore Pattanaik of the BJD.
Former MP of Bhadrak and veteran Congress leader Ananta Prasad Sethy said, "The resentment against Naveen Patnaik government was clearly reflected in politically-sensitive Basudevpur.."