Bhubaneswar: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which had won 113 seats in the 2019 Assembly election, could manage to win only 51 MLA seats in this election amid a huge saffron surge across the State.
At least 11 Ministers in Naveen Patnaik’s Cabinet were defeated in the Assembly election. Excluding one seat (Bissam Cuttack), all 10 ministers lost their seats to BJP candidates.
The Ministers who lost the election are–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, Women & Child Development Minister Basanti Hembram, Skill Development & Technical Education Minister Pritiranjan Ghadai, Law Minister Jagannath Saraka and Revenue Minister Sudam Marndi.
Among these Ministers, Shri Marndi was contesting from Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha seat while others were contesting for MLA seats. In place of Sudam Marndi, the BJD had nominated his wife Ranjita Marndi from Bangriposi, but could not succeed. Ranjita lost the seat to BJP candidate Sanjali Murmu.
Chief Minister and BJD Supremo Naveen Patnaik himself lost the Kantabanji Assembly seat to his nearest rival BJP candidate Laxman Bag by 16,344 votes. However, Shri Patnaik won from the Hinjili seat by defeating his nearest BJP rival Sisir Kumar Mishra by 4,636 votes.
BJD organizational secretary Pranab Prakash Das’s mother Sandyarani also defeated to her nearest rival candidate Akash Das Nayak of BJP with a margin of 5646 votes.
BJD General Secretary Sanjay Das Burma also lost Satyabadi MLA seat to BJP candidate Om Prakash Mishra with a margin of 17,708 votes.
Senior BJD leader Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo won the Bolangir MLA seat despite huge challenges from BJP and Congress.
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).
The other BJD leader who won the poll are—Sujata Sahu (Jajpur), Nalini Kanta Pradhan (Athamalik), Arvind Mohapatra (Patkura), Ganeswar Behera (Kendrapara), Ramakanta Bhoi (Tirtol), and Rupesh Kumar Panigrahi (Paralakhemundi).
The BJD also came to Zero in the Lok Sabha election from 12 seats won in 2019 polls. BJD organizational secretary Pranab Prakash Das defeated Sambalpur Lok Sabha seat for Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan by a huge margin of 1,19,836 votes.
Similarly, sitting MPs Manjulata Mandal (Bhadrak), Rajashree Mallick (Jagatsinghpur), Sarmistha Sethi (Jajpur), and Achyut Samant (Kandhamal) also defeated in the election.