Bhubaneswar, Feb. 7: The BJD captured the 28-member Baripada Municipality and improved its previous performance by gaining seven more seats.

While the Congress failed to open its account, the BJP could win from one seat.

Announcing the result, additional district magistrate Radha Krushna Rout said that the BJD got 21 seats, the BJP one, the JMM two and Independents won in four wards.

The BJD that had 14 councillors in the previous municipality, has 21 this time. The Congress lost the lone seat it had won last time. The BJP, which had seven seats, faced a severe drubbing and could win only from one ward.

While the BJD had fielded 28 candidates, the BJP and the Congress contested in 27 and 13 wards, respectively. The JMM, which had four councillors last time, could win only two seats.

The JMM had contested from nine wards. Independent candidates also increased their tally from two to four this time. There were 47 independents in the fray from different wards. Among the 140 candidates in fray, 73 were for women.

The election commission had set up 78 booths in the town that had 68,854 voters. Election officials had put the polling percentage at 71.

The victory of the BJD in Baripada is significant because the party is keen on expanding its political base in the entire Mayurbhanj district, which is a tribal dominated area.