As expected, the main battle will be between the Congress and BJP in 20 ULBs in Western Odisha, which would go to polls on November 22. Elections won’t be held in Balangir and Titilagarh, where not a single nomination paper could be filed due to the boycott call given by the lawyers in support of a separate HC bench in the region.

In addition, elections are not being held in Sambalpur, Burla and Hirakud, as these ULBs will be merged into a single entity, Sambalpur Municipal Corporation. As Rourkela will also be converted into the Corporation, elections will be held there at a later stage.

The BJD leads the list of candidates by fielding 301 people in the fray. But, the party knows that it has a bleak chance to turn things around. Although it has swept the recently concluded ULB polls in other parts of the state, but when it comes to Western Odisha, the Congress and BJP always have the last laugh.

The Congress and BJP have fielded 240 and 268 candidates respectively. And, they are going aggressive to win maximum seats. Their main goal is to defeat the BJD and embarrass Naveen Patnaik and show the people of Odisha, the charisma of the Odisha CM does not work everywhere.

The ULBs that will go to polls, include Patnagarh NAC, Kantabanji NAC, Bargarh Municipality, Barpali NAC, Padmapur NAC, Deogarh Municipality, Brajarajnagar Municipality, Jharsuguda Municipality, Bhawanipatna Municipality, Kesinga NAC, Junagarh NAC, Khariar Road NAC, Khariar NAC, Kuchinda NAC, Sonepur Municipality, Binka NAC, Tarbha NAC, Biramitrapur Municipality, Rajgangpur Municipality and Sundargarh Municipality.