Naveen Patnaik: The man with a plan

Be it a cyclone or a tsunami-like ‘Modi wave’, Odisha’s Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik knows how to dodge it in time. Despite the resurgence of the BJP in the state, which has not only replaced the Congress as the Opposition in the Assembly, but also increased its Lok Sabha tally by eight from a mere one (of a total of 21 seats) in 2014, Naveen has weathered the storm and held BJD’s fort in the Assembly with 112 seats out of the 146 constituencies.

The Chief Minister, who for the first time simultaneously contested from his home turf Hinjili (in Ganjam district) and Bijepur constituencies, has won from both.

The party’s tally of Assembly seats, however, has gone down from 117 in 2014 to 112 this election. With the BJD losing eight of its Lok Sabha seats, Election Commission figures stated that the party saw a drop of 1.3 per cent in its Lok Sabha vote share compared to 2014.

Tactical voting

Several parts of the state witnessed tactical voting where people who voted for the BJP in the Centre, chose Naveen’s candidates in the state and vice-versa. One of the best examples is Puri district where BJP spokesperson and the party’s most touted Lok Sabha candidate Sambit Patra, lost to BJD’s Pinaki Mishra by a margin of 11,714 votes after a tough fight. In contrast, BJD’s five-time MLA Maheswar Mohanty from Puri district, lost to BJP’s Jayanta Kumar Sarangi.

Hits and misses

The election also spelt the defeat of strong BJD contenders such as Sanjay Dasburma (Brahmagiri Assembly constituency), Lal Bihari Himirika (Rayagada Assembly constituency) and Rabi Narayan Nanda (Jeypore Assembly seat) – who had won three consecutive elections from the seat. In the Lok Sabha, while BJD candidates such as Rabindra Kumar Jena (Balasore) and Kalikesh Narayan Sing Deo (Balangir) lost their home turfs to BJP candidates, Prasanna Acharya, a serving Rajya Sabha MP who was fielded from the Bargarh Assembly constituency lost to Suresh Pujari of the BJP.

For the BJP which successfully bagged eight Lok Sabha seats and rose its Assembly tally to 23 from 10, the major dampeners were the defeats of its Lok Sabha contestants Baijayant Panda who lost to actor Anubhav Mohanty from Kendrapara Lok Sabha constituency and Sambit Patra who was expected to win from the Puri constituency.

The Congress on the other hand was left with a mere nine seats in the Assembly and one in the Lok Sabha against 16 in Assembly and zero in Lok Sabha in 2014. Odisha Congress president Niranjan Patnaik who lost from both Bhandaripokhari and Ghasipura Assembly constituencies he was contesting has resigned from his post citing moral responsibility for the party’s loss in the elections.

Naveen’s women card

As if proving naysayers wrong, Patnaik’s formula reserving 33% of its Lok Sabha seats for women candidates has worked wonders. Five of his seven women candidates contesting the Lok Sabha polls have emerged victorious.