Odisha: Counting of votes underway for urban local body polls

The counting of votes for the 109 urban civic body polls for three Municipal Corporations, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Berhampur, besides 47 municipalities is underway. It is for the first time that direct elections for the top posts of the local bodies are being held in Odisha.

Over 40.55 lakh voters were eligible to cast their votes in the elections which concluded on March 24. In the panchayat elections held last month in Odisha, the BJD had won in 766 wards out of 852 Zilla Parishads, while the BJP and Congress won 42 and 37 wards respectively. Independents and other parties managed to win seven seats.