BJDs trailer for Panchayat polls

BHUBANESWAR: Despite the hype generated in the run-up to the Umerkote Assembly bypoll, the result became a tame affair. The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Sunday retained the seat with a bigger margin. The rivals, BJP and Congress, however, cried foul levelling charges of manipulation of electronic voting machines (EVMs), use of official machinery, money and muscle power. For a buoyant BJD, this is now being seen as a trailer in the buildup to the three-tier panchayat elections slated for February next year.BJD candidate Subhas Gond defeated his nearest BJP rival Dharmu Gond by a margin of 21,061 votes. While Subhas polled 54,713 votes, Dharmu managed 33,652 votes. Congress candidate Jeeten Gond was relegated to third position in the triangular contest with 32,877 votes.From Day One, the BJP and the Congress candidates were nowhere in contention as the fight between them was for second and third slot. In the 2009 election, BJD candidate Jagabandhu Majhi __ whose killing necessitated the byelection __ had won by more than 14,000 votes defeating BJP’s Dharmu. Majhi was gunned down by suspected Maoists on September 24.