Odisha Lok Sabha Polls 2019: BJD remains dominant force in state, BJP set to increase its seats

The Odisha Lok Sabha elections exit poll results have been declared. The News Nation Exit Poll results have predicted a victory for the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s seats are likely to rise from 1 to 8-10 seats. The exit poll predicts that the  Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal (BJD) may manage to win 11-13 Lok Sabha seats. Congress, on the other hand, may drop to zero seat in Odisha.

The state of Odisha is probably one of those states in which the Bharatiya Janata Party is pegging to capture maximum seats. In 2014, Odisha bucked the Modi wave and the ruling party had the consolation of winning a lone Lok Sabha seat in Sundargarh. But this time, the scenario is likely to change. After the BJP had an unprecedented success in the North-eastern states namely, Tripura, Assam and Manipur, the party is aiming to spread its wings in West Bengal and Odisha as well under the ‘Look east policy’.  While a popular and youthful Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, has been projected as an alternative face to Naveen Patnaik for quite some time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah have made numerous visits to connect with the masses in Odisha.

Odisha, which has 21 Lok Sabha constituencies, saw lower voter turnout this year due to Cyclone Fani.

2014 Lok Sabha elections in Odisha:

The main contenders in these polls were Biju Janata Dal, Indian National Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party. The assembly elections were held simultaneously with the general elections in the state. The polls for 21 Lok Sabha seats were held in two phases on 10 and 17 April 2014, where BJD won with 44.10% vote share, Congress got 26% and BJP got 21.50% vote share.

2009 General elections in Odisha:

In 2009 general elections in Odisha, the major contenders in the state were the Third Front, Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The third front parties contesting in the state were the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the Left parties and the Nationalist Congress Party. The BJD emerged as a party with highest number of seats: 14, whereas Congress and CPI bagged 6 and 1 seats respectively.

2004 General elections in Odisha:

Elections to the 13th Legislative Assembly of Orissa were held in April 2004. 802 candidates from various political parties were in fray, contesting in a total of 147 Assembly constituencies. 1,69,33,456 valid votes were cast in which, owing to the people-centric welfarist schemes of Naveen Patnaik.

KEY POINTS:

1. The Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has been ruling the state since 2000 without any serious threat neither from the BJP nor from the Congress.
2. This year, Odisha voted in first four phases i.e. April 11, 18, 23 and 29 for Lok Sabha.
3. Kalahandi, Koraput, Berhampur and Nabrangpur voted on April 11 whereas the voters in Sundargarh, Bargarh, Aska, Kandhamal and Bolangir used their franchise on April 18. Six seats namely Puri, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Sambalpur and Bhubaneswar casted their vote on April 23 while the voting held in Jajpur, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Balasore, Bhadrak and Mayurbhanj om April 29.
4. In 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, Naveen Patnaik was one of the regional satraps who stood his ground against the Narendra Modi wave. The 2014 polls in Odisha were held in two phases on April 10 and 17.
5. The state sends 21 members in the Lok Sabha and the BJD won 20 seats, while the BJP was able to win a single seat of Sundargarh. Jual Oram defeated BJD's Dilip Kumar Tirkey from the constituency and relegated former chief minister and Congress leader Hemananda Biswal to the third position.
6. The BJD received 94,89,946 votes with a vote share of 44.77 per cent, while the BJP was able to garner 46,38,565 votes in the state with a vote share of 21.88 per cent. The saffron party came second in Balasore, Bargarh, Bhubaneswar, Bolangir, Dhenkanal, Kalahandi, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Sambalpur.
7. Some of the prominent winners in 2014 were Jual Oram (BJP-Sundargarh), Arjun Charan Sethi (BJD-Bhadrak), Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD-Cuttack), Baijayant Panda (BJD-Kendrapara), Pinaki Misra (BJD-Puri), Prasanna Kumar Patasani (BJD-Bhubaneswar), Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo (BJD-Bolangir), Tathagata Satpathy (BJD-Dhenkanal) and Jhina Hikaka (BJD-Koraput).
8. In the panchayat elections in Odisha in 2017, the BJP had only 36 Zilla Parishad seats in 2012 which it increased to 306 in 2017.
9. The ruling BJD suffered a jolt after its tally went down from 651 seats to 460.
10. The BJP got more than 32 per cent votes in the panchayat polls.
11. In Kandhamal Lok Sabha and Bijepur Assembly bye-elections, the BJP came second after the BJD.