BJD wins 4th term in Odisha with two third majority

Bhubaneswar: In a landslide victory, BJD on Friday stormed back to power for a record fourth consecutive term in Odisha by securing two third majority in the 147-member Assembly. Candidates of the Naveen Patnaik-led party have already won 105 Assembly seats while 12 others were leading in their respective seats.

Both Congress and BJP were made to bite the dust with their candidates winning in 13 and ten seats respectively. Prominent among BJD candidates are party supremo and chief minister Naveen Patnaik who trounced Congress nominee Sibaram Patra by 76,586 votes in his home turf Hinjili segment in Ganjam district.

This was Naveen's fourth consecutive victory from the assembly segment. Naveen-led BJD, which had won 103 seats in 2009 Assembly polls, is all set to take a lion's share raising its tally to 117 in the state assembly.

Congress, which had 27 members in the last Assembly, has so far won 11 seats while five of its candidates were leading in different constituencies. However, in a severe blow to Congress, OPCC president Jaydev Jena was defeated in Anandpur Assembly constituency, while party's chief whip Prasad Harichandan not only failed to retain Satyabadi set but was pushed to third place in the seat where independent candidate Umakanta Samantray won.

Another independent candidate Sanatan Mahakud, a prominent mineral trader, won in Champua assembly seat in mineral-rich Keonjhar district. While BJP failed to capitalise on the Narendra Modi wave that swept the country, party's state unit president K V Singhdeo, overcoming strong opposition from BJD's Prakruti Devi, defeated her by 13,653 votes in Patnagarh.

Though BJD was sweeping the polls, Finance Minister Prasanna Acharya lost to his Congress rival Subal Sahu in Bijepur while School and Mass Education Minister Rabi Narayan Nanda was was defeated by Congress leader Tara Prasad Bahinipati in Jeypore seat.

Also a loser was BJD leader and former minister A U Singhdeo (Balangir), while former Speaker and BJD leader Kishore Mohanty was defeated by Naba Das of Congress in Jharsuguda seat.

Senior Congress leader Chiranjib Biswal defeated BJD leader and former minister Bishnu Das in Jagatsinghpur Assembly segment. Newly-floated Samata Kranti Dal has won one seat, while CPI-M was leading on one constituency in the last leg of counting.