Campaign ends for urban body polls

Odisha Channel Bureau Bhubaneswar/Paradip, April 5: The ruling Biju Janata Dal has always taken all elections seriously since it has started ruling in Odisha in March 2000, and the party too has done the same in the run-up to the elections in eight urban local bodies in the State.As campaigning for the elections in eight urban local bodies ended on Sunday evening, Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik was himself found campaigning for the party nominees in Paradip town during the day.Apart from Paradip Municipality, elections are being held in the municipalities of Balimela, Sunabeda, Rairakhol, and Belpahar and the Notified Area Councils (NACs) of Dharamgarh, Tushara and Daspalla.The polling in the eight ULBs in scheduled to be conducted on April 7 (Tuesday).Knowing well that triangular contests were taking place in all the eight ULBs with BJD, Congress and BJP as main contenders, and his party was set to win a majority of the seats due to division of anti-BJD votes, Patnaik expressed confidence that the BJD will do well in these elections as the State government had done commendable work. While Patnaik was accompanied by many senior leaders of the party during his campaign in Paradip, several Ministers, Members of Parliament and senior leaders campaigned for their nominees in the other seven urban local bodies in different parts of the State.Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Prasad Harichandan had campaigned for the party in Paradip on Saturday, while the BJP’s campaign was led by many senior leaders.Congress and BJP have also tried their best to woo the voters by organising rallies and public meetings in the poll-bound ULBs during the past few days.But the BJD appeared to be ahead of the two opposition parties being the ruling party.The opposition parties have alleged that the BJD Government had launched the Aahar scheme in five cities of the State on April 1 keeping the elections in the eight urban bodies in view.