The formal seal to the imminent record shattering victory of the BJD in the panchayat election was accorded yesterday with results to all the 851 zilla parishads being announced and the Naveen Patnaik led party bagging 765, the BJP 42, and Congress 37.

The counting of votes spread over three days had shown signs of a massive win by the BJD right from day one.

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The regional party’s invincibility was established and it is set to occupy the zilla parishad in all the 30 districts including the areas of western Odisha which is perceived as a BJP stronghold.

The humiliating defeat for the BJP , reduced from 297 seats in 2017 to just 42, and the resources and rudderless Congress from 60 to 37 left their leaders scurrying for answers.

The BJD juggernaut became unstoppable largely because of its meticulous election management that had started several months ago with its organizational secretary Pranab Prakash Das engaged in extensive tour of districts, roping in potential activists from both the Congress and BJP preparing the ground for the panchayat polls.

The ‘invisible team’ (read select bureaucrats) , had also formulated several welfare schemes and doles a couple of months ahead of the election, worked, said political circles here.

It is a positive vote for CM Naveen Patnaik and his sincere efforts for the welfare of the people and the state, said BJD leaders. They dismissed the talk of ‘bureaucrats’ doing election management. It is we who went door to door seeking votes and facing the people, we selected the candidates, did any bureaucrat do so countered BJD spokesperson P K Deb.

Instead of accepting defeat and failure, the Opposition is throwing stones in the dark, he added.

CM Naveen Patnaik thanked the people of the State for their overwhelming faith and trust on the BJD. Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Niranjan Patnaik admitted that the BJD government had effectively delivered pre-poll doles and schemes that swung the mandate in its favour.

Veteran leader Bijoy Mahapatra said he was not at all surprised by the huge victory of the BJD. They had been preparing for elections since long whereas the Opposition parties did not, he said.

“There was only one player on the field”, he quipped. Mahapatra however went on the allege that the trend of a select group of bureaucrats indulging in election management was new to Odisha.

Seventy percent of the election management was done by officers while 30 percent by political leaders of the BJD, he charged.

He also noted that the central BJP leadership including the PM had praised CM Naveen Patnaik on several occasions while the state BJP was trying to drum up scams in the rural housing scheme, rising atrocities on women etc. You can not have it both ways, people are not fools, he remarked adding that to improve the BJP central leadership has to make its position clear and work accordingly.

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, in the forefront of the electioneering in 2017 and conspicuous by his absence in 2022, in his reaction yesterday said the party needs to work hard . He appeared to take comfort from the fact that the BJP had secured over 30 percent of the votes.

Right from the outset, the panchayat polls were a one horse race , yet none of the parties had expected such a landslide win for the BJD and the complete rout of the BJP.

The 2022 panchayat polls witnessed the BJP losing badly even in regions where it has its sitting MLA and MPs. Clearly, the BJD had targeted the BJP dominated areas and successfully demolished their bastions in some parts of the State.

Elections to the zilla parishad are fought on party symbols while the panchayat samiti member and sarpanch election is without party symbols.

Political observers here note that one has to get into details relating to the results for the sarpanch election and see how many of the BJD supported sarpanch candidates have won. Only then will we get a clear picture as the sarpanch is the key post and there are several instances of a close fight at the sarpanch level, rebel BJD candidates.