Odisha Assembly Elections 2024: BJP wins majority in Odisha elections

BJD won 51 seats, INC 14 and CPI(M) won one seat. Independent candidates won three seats. With 78 seats, the BJP won four more seats than the majority. The BJP’s opposition to Patnaik’s health, Odia pride and Modi’s attack on Patnaik’s Tamil aide VK Pandian, as well as the BJP’s comment on the missing keys to the Jagannath temple, seem to have paid off. The keys went missing six years ago.

The BJP won all the seats in Mayurbhanj district, where President Draupadi Murmu is from. This year, the BJP stronghold districts in western Odisha won again. Naveen Patnaik won from Hinjli constituency but lost from Kantabanji.

The BJP’s seat share of 78 was the highest since 1995 and the lowest for the BJD since the first elections in 2004. The Congress increased its seat share from nine in 2019 to 14 this year. However, it was still lower than the 16 seats won in 2014.

Like its seat share, the BJP’s vote share this year was the highest since 1980 at 40.07%. BJD’s vote share was 40.22% and INC recorded its lowest vote share since 1980 at 13.26%.

As for the incumbent MLA’s performance, more than half of the 97 incumbent candidates lost. Initially, the party was expected to field new faces to tackle the opposition to the office. In fact, according to party sources, preliminary surveys have shown a decline in the popularity of incumbent MLAs in almost all constituencies. Moreover, younger leaders who started their careers alongside existing leaders had increasing aspirations. However, the BJD chose to play it safe by retaining many of the current MLAs.

Of the 66 incumbent MLAs he fielded, 41 lost. On the other hand, the BJP fielded 25 officials, of whom 10 lost.

Incumbents won or lost by only about 30 votes. For example, senior BJD leader Nusingha Charan Singh lost by 32 votes to the BJP candidate in Parjanga constituency.

Seven ministers lost and five won.

One such official is Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who lost from Kantabanji constituency. majority of 16,344 votes for the BJP candidate. He won from Hinjli by a margin of 4,636 votes. This comes after his previous victories in Hinjli constituency with margins of 61,273 (2009), 76,586 (2014) and 60,160 (2019) in the previous assembly elections. His vote share also dropped significantly in this election, from a high of 76.04% in 2009 to 46.85% this year.

(With the participation of the agency)