Insight Bureau:   The ruling BJD’s victory march continues unabated for the second consecutive day, as the party has comfortably surpassed its 2017 tally of 476 Zilla Parishad Zones by leading/winning in 533 seats out of 608 trends received so far.

Opposition BJP is way behind with 36 seats following by the Congress (30). Others are winning/leading in 8 seats.

If the trend continues, BJD may break its 2012 record of 651 Zilla Parishad Zones, it’s believed. The party may win more than 700 seats.

BJD’s best performance comes from Ganjam District where the party is leading/winning in 44 out of 45 seats where trends have been received. The party is ahead in 33 out 35 seats in Mayurbhanj, 28 out of 32 zones in Sundargarh, 21  out of 22 seats in Cuttack, 20 out of 21 in Puri, 21 out of 24 in Keonjhar, 15 out of 16 in Kendrapada, 10 out of 12 in Malkangiri and in all 22 zones in Jajpur. In Balangir, BJD is ahead in 21 out of 23 zones.

Both BJP and Congress failed to put up a strong fight in any of the districts. If the trend continues, BJD may win all 30 Zilla Parishad Zones in the State – a new record.

When it comes to declared results, BJD has won 268 zones followed by BJP (14), Congress (14) and Others (4).