After winning all 30 Zilla Parishad President posts of state, the ruling Biju Janta Dal (BJD) termed this victory as the faith of the voters in the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and the pro-poor and pro-development works of the state government.
"The landslide victory for the Biju Janata Dal has once again affirmed the strong leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and proved that development has no parallel," said the party on Monday.
"This win is the win of 4.5 crores Odias and for the development of Odisha. It is historic since, for the first time in Odisha, any party has formed Zilla Parishad in all 30 districts of Odisha. This, therefore, is unique and historic for Odisha"
While winning more than eighty per cent seats in the three-tier grassroots elections is incomparable anywhere in the country, the BJD said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's thrust on the flag-bearers of development - women, youth and educated will certainly take Odisha to new heights of Growth and Development.
"Reposing his faith in the women leadership and the cause of women empowerment, Chief Minister has chosen twenty-one women as the Zilla Parishad Presidents, that's 70 per cent of total seats, even though the statutory threshold is just 50 per cent."
This is the first time in history that such a large number of women are heading the districts in Odisha and probably, unprecedented anywhere else in the country, the party said.
"Who needs a constitutional amendment (Women's Reservation Bill) if a leader like Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is willing to walk the talk and create women's leadership. 70 per cent of the ZP Presidents are women, and their average age is 41 years."
Out of the 18 Unreserved seats (including Women), 12 OBC candidates (67 per cent) have been made Zilla Parishad Presidents.
"There are many inspiring stories of women's empowerment and transformation from winning candidates. That shows the massive and transformative women's empowerment by Chief Minister in Odisha. Not in words but in actions."
Likewise, 23 of the 30 districts (76 per cent) have ZP Presidents below the age of 50 years. "This is clearly youth empowerment and shows that there is no dearth of youth leadership in BJD and that the party is grooming the next generation leaders very strongly at the grassroots and districts."
( With inputs from ANI )
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