Bhubaneswar, Mar 26 (IANS): Like the recently concluded panchayat election, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) led by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is heading towards a landslide victory in the urban election for which counting was underway on Saturday.
The counting of votes of 105 municipalities/notified area councils (NACs) and three municipal corporations of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Berhampur started at 8 a.m., and till evening, the final result had not been declared by the State Election Commission.
As per the latest trend for the post of the chairman/mayor, the BJD candidates are leading in 76 urban local bodies (ULBs), followed by BJP which is leading in 16, Congress in 7 and independent candidates in nine.
The BJD mayor candidates are leading with a comfortable margin in all three municipal corporations -- Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Berhampur.
Thanking the people for re-imposing faith in his party, BJD President Naveen Patnaik, in a tweet, said, "Thank all the people of #Odisha for the overwhelming support in #OdishaMunicipalElection. The win is a reflection of the outpouring of love for @bjd_odisha and the untiring effort of thousands of party workers. #OdishaLovesBJD"
He also congratulated all winning BJD candidates and appreciated the hardwork of party workers.