Samikhsya Bureau
The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is heading for an absolute majority by leading over 115 of 146 Assembly seats and is set to assume power for a fifth time in a row.
On the other hand, the main opposition Congress had suffered a major jolt with the party relegating to third position and leading over only 8 seats while the BJP is leading over 21 seats.
Both the CPI and CPM candidate is leading over one seat each in the state.
In the Lok Sabha elections also the BJD has proved its supremacy and leading over 16 of 21 seats while the BJP is leading over five seats. The BJP had in 2014 elections had won only one Lok Sabha seat.
The strong Modi wave which swept the nation had also its impact in Odisha as the BJP candidates are leading over five Lok Sabha seats.
Although the ruling BJD is heading for 115 seats against 117 seats it captured in the 2014 Assembly elections, the voting percentage of BJD has shown a marginal increase of 1.4 per cent from 43.4 per cent in 2014 to 44.85 per cent in 2019 elections.
On the other hand, the BJP which garnered only 18 per cent votes in 2014 elections, had managed to increase its voting share by registering 32.40 per cent while the Congress voting percentage plummeted to 15.63 per cent from 25.7 per cent in 2014 elections.
Veteran Congress leaders like former Union Minister Bhakta Charan Das and Odisha Youth Congress president Pradeep Majhi besides Odisha PCC chief’s son Nabajyoti Pattnaik are trailing in Kalahandi, Nabarangpur and Balasore Lok Sabha seat respectively.
The ruling BJD had retained only three sitting MPs to contest the election and brought change in the 18 Lok Sabha seats and as announced the party fielded seven women candidates (33 per cent) in the Lok Sabha seats.
The counting of trends indicate that all the seven women BJD candidates are leading in the Lok Sabha seats.
On the other hand, the BJP which had won only Sundargarh Lok Sabha seat in 2014 elections, is now leading in six Lok Sabha seats on the Modi wave and also leading over 21 Assembly seats when the party had won only ten seats in the 2014 Assembly elections.
Odisha Pradesh Congress President Niranjan Patnaik already conceded party’s defeat and said the party respects the peoples mandate but said the mandate in favour of BJD for the fifth term is not good for Odisha which has not much progressed in the field of development and failed to check the poverty and unemployment in the state.
The party had fielded 87 new faces of which majority are youth in the election and said the party will certainly grow in days to come.
As per the latest trend available, the BJP candidates are leading in Bargarh, Sundargarh, Bolangir, Kalahandi and Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat.
While, the ruling BJD is leading in Sambalpur, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Nabarangpur, Kendrapara, Cuttack, Kandhamal, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Aska and Berhumpur Lok Sabha seats.
Most of the council of ministers of Naveen Patnaik government contesting the elections this time are leading in their respective assembly seats.
About 15 council of ministers are seeking re-elections for Assembly seats while ST and SC Development Minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi is in the Lok Sabha fray and leading in Nabarangpur Lok Sabha seat.
