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Journalism of Courage
The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is heading towards a landslide victory in the Odisha rural elections, counting for which ends today. After the first two days of counting, the BJD had won 585 Zilla Parishad Zones (ZPZ), with the BJP winning 31 and the Congress 29. Elections were held for 851 Zilla Parishad Zones. In 2017, the BJD had won 473 ZPZs, the BJP 297 and the Congress 60. With a tally of 297, the BJP had emerged as a major political force in the 2017 rural elections, which helped the party in increasing its number of MPs from the state.
BJD’s clean sweep
By registering a win in 585 ZPZs, the BJD has already surpassed its own performance of 2017. The trends prove the lack of any anti-incumbency in the state even after 22 years of the BJD rule. The BJD also managed to reclaim zilla parishad zones which had become a strong BJP bastion – specifically in western and northern Odisha districts – after the 2017 panchayat elections. For instance, in Mayurbhanj district, the BJP had won 49 of the 56 ZPZ in 2017. In 2019, the BJP had secured 6 of the 9 assembly seats as well as the MP seat. But the party has won only one ZPZ in the district in these elections.
BJP’s washout
The BJP had put up an impressive performance in the 2017 panchayat elections and the subsequent general and assembly elections. The trends this year, however, have put the party in a distant second. Failing to secure its own bastions, the party wants to “deliberate upon why it failed to perform” despite raising multiple issues around women’s safety, agricultural crisis, corruption in implementation of schemes during its poll campaign. Senior leaders, however, feel that the state machinery failed to bank on the success stories of the central scheme.
What worked in 2017 and the elections after that was a robust campaign and ground presence of senior central leaders, who remained more or less aloof from the elections this time.
Congress holds ground
While the Congress remained at the third position, its performance is being considered far better than the BJP, as it managed to retain its own bastions. Looking at the trends, the party might secure less than 60 ZPZs, but will still fare better than the BJP.
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