BJP ends Naveen's 24-year rule in Odisha, set to form govt

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday stormed to power in Odisha by dethroning the Biju Janata Dal which has been in power for the last 24 years.

The BJP won 74 seats in the 147-member Odisha assembly and was leading in four more seats, the Election Commission of India.

The BJD has won 50 seats and was leading in one seat.

Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik won from the Hinjili seat by defeating his nearest BJP rival Sisir Kumar Mishra by 4,636 votes.

The Congress has won 14 seats while the Communist Party of India-Marxist has won one seat.

Independent candidates won in three assembly seats. They were Himansu Sekhar Sahu (Dharmasala), Bijay Kumar Dalbehera (Baramba) and Sarada Prasad Pradhan (Mahanga).

Leader of Opposition and BJP candidate Jayanarayan Mishra won Sambalpur MLA seat with a margin of 4,105 votes.

BJP chief whip in Odisha assembly Mohan Charan Majhi won the Keonjhar seat defeating his nearest rival Mina Majhi of BJD by 11,577 votes.

The other BJP candidates who won are Prithviraj Hairchandran (Chilika), Ashwini Kumar Sarangi (Bargarh), Bhabani Shankar Bhoi (Talsara), Padma Charan Haiburu (Karanjia), Kanhai Charan Danga (Kantamal), Dusmanta Kumar Swain (Khandapada), Fakir Mohan Naik (Telkoi), Sanat Gartia (Bijepur), Prasanta Kumar Jagadev (Khurda), Raghunath Jagadala (Birmaharajpur), Narasinga Madkami (Malkangiri), Ganesh Ramsing Khuntia (Jashipur),Sanjali Murmu (Bangriposi), Sudhir Ranjan Pattjoshi (Dharamgarh) and Saroj Kumar Pradhan (Boudh).

Senior BJD leader and Odisha Assembly speaker Pramila Mallik won from Binjharpur constituency. Mallik won the seat by defeating her nearest BJP rival Babita Mallick by 2,856 votes.

Other BJD winners are Rohit Joseph Tirkey (Biramitrapur), Sanatan Mahakud (Champua), Manorama Mohanty (Narla), Arun Kumar Saho (Daspalla), Barsha Singh Bariha (Padampur), Jogesh Kumar Singh (Sundargarh), Sarada Prasad Nayak (Rourkela), Aswini Kumar Patra (Jaleswar), Gautam Buddha Das (Bhograi), Subasini Jena (Basta), Madhab Dhada (Soro), Niranjan Pujari (Sonepur), Ranendra Pratap Swain (Athagarh), Souvic Biswal (Choudwar-Cuttack), Prasanta Behera (Salipur), Pratap Deb (Aul), Ramakanta Bhoi (Tirtol), Sarada Prasanna Jena (Balikud-Ersama), Tusharkanti Behera (Kakatpur), Susant Kumar Rout (Bhubaneswar North), Bibhuti Bhusan Balabantray (Jatni), and Pradip Kumar Sahu (Begunia).

Congress candidates who won include Nilamadhab Hikaka (Bissam Cuttack), CS Razen Ekka (Rajgangpur) Ashok Kumar Das (Basudevpur), Sofia Firdous (Barabati-Cuttack), Ramesh Chandra Jena (Sanakhemundi), Satyajeet Gamango (Gunpur), and Tara Prasad Bahinipati (Jeypore).

The BJD in the 2019 assembly elections had won 113 seats, the BJP got 23 and Congress 9 seats.