ROURKELA: It’s official. BJD has secured a clear majority in the 35-member prestigious Sundargarh Zilla Parishad (ZP) council, ending the 15-year-old reign of Congress. Congress bit the dust with a loss of eight ZP seats compared to 2007, while the BJP even failed to open its account. The final results for ZP seats were announced late on Thursday as recounting was sought in at least four blocks.Sundargarh ADM BB Behera said the BJD secured 19 seats, Congress eight, JMM one while seven seats went to Independents. The BJD fared well despite the internal wrangling between Minister Sarada Prasad Nayak and Rajya Sabha member Mangla Kisan, observers said. However, the one-upmanship of former chief minister and Sundargarh Congress MP Hemanand Biswal has spelt disaster for the party. Similarly, BJP led by Odisha unit president Jual Oram faced an unprecedented poll debacle as the Sundargarh parliamentary constituency was BJP pocket borough between 1998 and 2009. Controversy Dogs Recounting at NuagaonControversy dogged counting of ballot papers at two ZP constituencies in Nuagaon block as the final results were officially announced on Thursday evening after hectic activities. The ADM said BJD nominee Reena Sahu secured 7,606 votes to register a win over her nearest Independent rival Jayanti Singh with a narrow margin of 78 votes. Similarly, Independent candidate Pappu Kumar Sahu secured 7,728 votes to win the Nuagaon (B) ZP seat. He had polled 614 votes more than Dubraj Singh of BJD.Earlier, announcement of results for the two ZP seats got deferred following protests from two Independent candidates. They demanded recounting under strict vigilance.
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