BJP breaks BJD’s ‘invincible’ tag, Naveen Patnaik set to lose power after 24 years

Powered by an aggressive campaign over an emotional narrative of Odia Asmita (pride), the BJP Tuesday stopped its former ally BJD from taking reins of Odisha for a record sixth straight term.

In the Assembly elections, which were held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections in the state, the BJP was set to register a thumping victory to form its first full-majority government in the state. Out of the total 147 Assembly seats, the BJP was set to win 80, pushing the BJD, which has been in power since 2000, to finish with 50 seats – its worst-ever performance.

The saffron surge also swept the Lok Sabha polls with the BJP bagging 19 of the 21 seats, leaving the BJD and Congress with one seat each.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X: “Thank you Odisha! It’s a resounding victory for good governance and celebrating Odisha’s unique culture. BJP will leave no stone unturned in fulfilling the dreams of people and taking Odisha to new heights of progress.”

“I am very proud of all our hard working Party Karyakartas for their efforts,” he said.

The vote share of the BJD and BJP in the Assembly poll was 40.18% and 39.96%, respectively, according to preliminary estimates. In the Lok Sabha election, the BJP secured 45.51% vote share against the BJD’s 37.50%. Final figures were still awaited.

In 2019, the vote share of the BJD in the Assembly election was 45.2% (with 112 seats) against BJP’s 32.8% (23 seats). In the Lok Sabha, it was 43.3% (12 seats) for the BJD and 38.9% (eight seats) for the BJP.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who has never tasted defeat in his political career, was trailing in Kantabanji to BJP’s Laxman Bag by 10,460 votes after 21 of the total 28 rounds of counting. Patnaik chose Kantabanji as his second