Stray incidents of violence were reported from different parts of Odisha as elections to urban bodies, including those at the Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Berhampur municipal corporations, took place on Thursday.

Besides the three municipal corporations, urban areas including 47 municipalities and 59 notified area councils (NAC) went to polls on Thursday. The outcome of the urban polls will set the mood for the general election performance in Odisha in 2024.

Incidents of violence were reported from Pipli in Puri district. There was a clash between the workers of the BJP and the BJD. One person suffered head injuries. Reports of violence also emerged from Dhamnagar area in Bhadrak district and from Bhadrak town. A case of stabbing was reported from Dhamnagar and police had to be deployed to bring the situation under control. The clash took place when one group accused its rival group of trying to rig booths.

People also beat up the brother of Patnagarh (Bolangir district) MLA Saraoj Meher when he was allegedly trying to give money to voters for casting their votes in favour of a particular candidate.

Similarly violence was reported in Cuttack when an agent tried to distribute money among voters. Incidents of violence were also reported from Khandapada in Nayagarh district and some other parts of the state. A clash took place between Congress and BJD workers in Kantabanji area in Bolangir district over the issue of influencing voters. Barring these incidents, polling passed off peacefully.

Though the state election commission is yet to announce the final percentage of the voting, people were seen queuing up at polling booths to cast their votes braving extreme heat. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik walked to a booth nearly 300 metres from his residence to vote.

The BJP MP from Bhubaneswar, Aparajita Sarangi, was not able to cast her vote. “There was a whip today for attending the Parliament session,” said Sarangi. She posted the three-line whip issued by the BJP to attend Parliament.

The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which won the panchayat elections last month, put up a strong fight for the urban polls too.

“Elections in urban bodies were held on issues that were totally different from rural issues. Taking all these into consideration, we have put all of our resources to create history in the urban elections,” said a BJD leader.

Banking on the BJP’s growing influence in urban areas, the party was hopeful of performing well in the urban election even though it was routed by the BJD in the panchayat election recently.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, which is a part of the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha constituency, is represented by BJP MP Sarangi. The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation is part of the three Assembly constituencies Bhubaneswar Central, Bhubaneswar North and Bhubaneswar Ekamra.

These three Assembly constituencies are represented by the BJD MLAs.

One of the MLAs — Ashok Panda — is a minister in the Naveen Patnaik government. All the three MLAs have been toiling hard to ensure that BJD candidate and former journalist Sulochana Das wins the election by a convincing margin. Sulochana is locking horns against BJP’s mayoral candidate Dr Suniti Mund. For the first time, the mayor seat in Bhubaneswar has been reserved for women candidates.

The BJP is hopeful of doing well in Cuttack, banking on the popularity of its candidate Sritam Das, who is a known Odia film star. Sritam is fighting against BJD’s trade union leader and Rajya Sabha member Subhash Chandra Singh and Congress’s Giribala Behera, a former corporator.