Odisha Assembly election: BJP wins 51 seats, leads in 27, BJD gets 38

hubaneswar: The BJP was heading towards majority in the Odisha Assembly election as it won 51 seats and was leading in 27 other constituencies in the 147-member Odisha Assembly on Tuesday, according to the Election Commission of India.

The Biju Janata Dal which has been in power in Odisha since 2000 has won 38 seats and was leading in 13 other constituencies, it said.

Odisha Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik was trailing BJP's Laxman Bag by 16,321 votes in the Kantabanji Assembly seat in Bolangir district.

The BJD supremo was leading by 4,649 votes over his BJP rival Sisir Kumar Mishra in the Hinjili seat, the other seat he is contesting in Ganjam district.

The Congress won nine seats and was ahead in five Assembly segments.

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

BJP candidate Prithviraj Hairchandran won the Chilika Assembly constituency defeating his nearest BJD rival Raghunath Sahu by 4,566 votes while saffron party candidate Ashwini Kumar Sarangi won the Bargarh Assembly seat by defeating his nearest rival Debesh Acharya of BJD by 4,772 votes.

BJP's Durga Prasad Tanti won the Raghunathpalli assembly segment by a margin of 5,774 votes defeating his nearest rival Archanarekha Behera of BJD.

The saffron party's Tankadhar Tripathy won the Jharsuguda assembly segment by defeating his nearest rival Depali Das of BJD by 1,333 votes.

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

The other BJP nominees who won are - 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).

Leader of Opposition Jayanarayan Mishra won Sambalpur Assembly seat with a margin of 4,105 votes.

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.

BJD candidate Sarada Prasad Nayak won the Rourkela assembly seat by defeating his nearest rival Dilip Kumar Ray of BJP by 3,552 votes.

The other BJD candidates who won the Assembly poll are—Braja Kishore Pradhan (Talcher), Adhiraj Mohan Panigrahi (Khariar), Manohar Randhari (Dabugam), Chakramani Kanhar (Baliguda), Devi Ranjan Tripathy (Banki), Sudarshan Haripal (Rengali), Abhimanyu Sethi (Anandpur), Naba Kishor Mallick (Jayadev), Prasanna Acharya (Rairakhol), Romancha Ranjan Biswal (Deogarh), Badri Narayan Patra (Ghasipura), Biswa Ranjan Mallick (Bari), Pradip Kumar Dishari (Lanjigarh), Sunil Kumar Mohanty (Puri), and Ramesh Chandra Behera (Daspalla).

Congress candidate Mangu Khilla won the Chitrakonda Assembly segment by defeating his nearest rival Dambaru Sisa of BJP by 9,151 votes.

Senior Congress leader Bhakta Charan Das lost the assembly election from Narla segment, his son of Sagar Charan Das won Bhawanipatna assembly seat by defeating his nearest rival and former Leader of Opposition Pradipta Kumar Naik by a margin of 13,741 votes.

The Congress winners include Ashok Kumar Das (Basudevpur), Sofia Firdous (Barabati-Cuttack), Ramesh Chandra Jena (Sanakhemundi), Satyajeet Gamango (Gunpur), and Tara Prasad Bahinipati (Jeypore).

At least eight ministers in Naveen Patnaik's cabinet are trailing in the Odisha assembly election.

Forest and Environment Minister Pradip Kumar Amat, Works Minister Prafulla Kumar Mallik, Higher Education minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Transport minister Tukuni Sahu, Science and Technology Minister Ashok Chandra Panda, Finance Minister Bikram Keshari Arukha, Handlooms & Textiles Minister Rita Sahu and Women & Child Development Minister Basanti Hembram are trailing.

CPI(M) candidate was leading in one Assembly seat while Independents were leading in three seats.

The BJD in the 2019 Assembly elections had won 113 seats while BJP got 23 seats followed by Congress 9 seats.