ODISHA PANCHAYAT POLLS 2017: BJD ON TOP BUT BJP EMERGED VICTORIOUS

ODISHA PANCHAYAT POLLS, 2017: BJD ON TOP BUT BJP EMERGED VICTORIOUS

Aniruddha Jena

AB Fellow

So far, the year 2017 has been a year of acid test for the political parties in various clusters and corners in the country. As this year there are state assembly elections to be held in more than five Indian states and when it comes to elections, no matter the kind whether it is Panchayat polls, state assembly polls, municipal corporation polls etc., the political parties come forward with all their energies, strengths, ideas and propagandas to claim and influence the common masses of the society. Because elections are happening to be the only platform and occasion in which they have to win the commoners trust and faith in order to rule on and for them for a specific time period. As it is a well-known fact that commoners are the decider of politician’s fate as they decides and choose one from the many of the politicians to represent them and to play the role a liaison officer, who maintains a sense of equilibrium between the government and the public.

In particular reference to the Indian state named by Odisha, this year in February, 2017 Panchayat polls was held in five phases in all the 30 districts of the state. As the state Panchayat polls have been concluded and the results have already been declared. It is posing a new equation altogether and it is also showing a new picture, which is quite different and unanticipated because if one will see and analyse the results of last three four Panchayat elections in Odisha. It was Biju Janata Dal (BJD) who had a terrific and one-sided winning record against BJP as well as Congress too. This time also BJD has won the most number of seats but the number of seats which BJP has won is actually raising the eye brow of Naveen Patnaik, the supremo of BJD. Just five year ago in the last Panchayat poll, it was Naveen Patnaik led BJD which had swept the Panchayat election by wining 77% of the seats, while Congress and BJP managed to won just 13% and 2%respectively. But this 2017 Panchayat Election BJD had only manage to maintain a small and tiny difference of around 100 seats, where it is for the first time in the history of Oidisha’s Panchayat election that BJP could able to win more than 390 seats, which is quite astonishing and amazing for BJP in Odisha.

The result of the recent concluded Panchayat poll has raised an alarm bell for the ruling Naveen Patnaik led BJD to tighten their screws for the upcoming 2019 state assembly election, because this time things won’t be going in that easy fashion for them, it was going in last time. This time in the recently ended Panchayat election as per the facts and figures, it is the same BJD which is on top yet again, but all the eyes are on BJP after such a resounding and thumping performance. This time BJP has gained much more public support, basically the rural Odisha’s support, which was earlier not there with BJP. The result of the recently ended Panchayat election has given new ray of hope to the BJP camp in state like Odisha, where a regional party BJD led by Naveen Patnaik is ruling in the state since more than last 17 years. It has been an underdog show from the BJP in state like Odisha and the results were unpredictable and unanticipated.

Now there are certain important questions which are being emerged particularly before BJD after the results of the recently ended Panchayat election and the possible question which must be raising the eye brows of all BJD leaders that, is the “mild mannerism” and “Pro-poor” policies of Naveen Patnaik and Naveen Patnaik led BJD is not able to serve the purpose for them anymore? Or there has been a sense of gap between the BJD led government and common people which has been manufactured/created after major controversies and recent issues which were broken out and came into public’s limelight like Japanese Encephalitis, Dana Majhi and of course Mahanadi issues with Chhattisgarh and as a result in the recently ended Panchayat election BJP came up front and took away the advantage of it. And so far Congress is concerned, it as political party has lost its public support and image before the common masses of Odisha. And if one will see and analyse the recently ended Panchayat election result, then it will justify the above statement that Congress as a party has lost it picture from the whole equation itself.