Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) headed by incumbent Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is all set to form a government for a fifth consecutive term.
A meeting of the newly elected BJD legislators is scheduled to be held on Saturday, and the new Cabinet is likely to be sworn-in on Monday, May 27, party officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The oath-taking ceremony will be a low key affair as the State is still recovering from the devastation caused by Cyclone Fani, which hit Odisha on May 3.
The final Election Commission (EC) tally shows that the BJD won 112 of the 146 Assembly seats for which elections were held. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged 23, the Congress nine, the CPI(M) one and a solitary Independent was also elected.
Though the State Assembly has a total of 147 constituencies, the election to Patkura had to be postponed following the death of the BJD candidate.
Mr. Patnaik, who will take oath as Chief Minister for the fifth consecutive term, won from two Assembly segments — his old constituency Hinjili under the Aska Lok Sabha seat in southern Odisha and Bijepur under the Bargarh Lok Sabha seat in western Odisha.
BJP increases vote share
The BJD swept the Assembly polls by winning 112 seats with a vote share of 44.7%, while the BJP increased its share to 32.5% (18% in 2014) and the Congress had 16.1% (25.7%).
As regards the Lok Sabha, the BJD won 12 of the State’s 21 seats — including Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Kandhamal, Aska, Berhampur, Bhadrak and Nabarangpur.
The BJP bagged eight Lok Sabha seats — Kalahandi, Bolangir, Bargarh, Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj, Balasore and Bhubaneswar — while the Congress emerged victorious in the Koraput Lok Sabha seat.
While the BJD recorded vote share of 42.8% in the Lok Sabha poll, the BJP secured 38.4% and the Congress 13.8%.
One-third woman MPs
As many as seven women were elected to the Lok Sabha from Odisha, five representing the BJD and two from the BJP.
The prominent winners in the Lok Sabha polls include Union Minister Jual Oram from Sundargarh, Bhartruhari Mahtab of the BJD from Cuttack and the BJD’s Pinaki Mishra from Puri.
The prominent losers include BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra, who contested from Puri, and BJP nominee from the Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat Baijayant Panda.
In the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in 2014, the BJD had managed to win 117 Assembly seats with a vote share of 43.4%, while Congress had won 16 and the BJP 10. As regards the Lok Sabha, the BJD had won 20 seats, while the BJP had bagged one.
