Bhubaneswar: Odisha rejected almost 60% of party hoppers, who attempted to build a career more out of patronage than ideological conviction, in the recently concluded twin polls.
The state had seen near-absurd proportion of political acrobatics and that too at a dizzy speed as several politicians switched sides and even pocketed tickets.
LOK SABHA SEATS
Except for six-time MP Bhartruhari Mahtab and expelled BJD leader and Gopalpur MLA Pradip Panigrahi, who entered the fray donning the saffron cap and registered thumping victory in Cuttack and Berhampur parliamentary seats respectively, no other turncoat MP candidate won the Lok Sabha polls in Odisha.
Interestingly, one-third of BJD MP candidates were turncoats, who joined the party only recently.
Two former Odisha BJP vice presidents – Lekhasri Samantsinghar and Bhrugu Baxipatra, who defected to the regional party, were trounced in Balasore and Berhampur LS seats, respectively. Titlagarh MLA Surendra Singh Bhoi, who was rewarded with Balangir LS seat five days after he joined BJD, cutting his 38-year-old ties with Congress, also failed to wrest the seat back from BJP.
Similarly, Parineeta Mishra from Bargarh, Anshuman Mohanty from Kendrapada, and Dhanurjay Siddu from Keonjhar, who were imported from rival BJP and Congress, faced defeat. Parineeta is the wife of Susanta Mishra, who defected from BJP, while Anshuman is a former Congress MLA. Siddu, former Champua MLA, joined BJD after quitting BJP in 2021.
Former Congress MP Pradeep Majhi, who also joined the regional party in 2021, lost in Nabarangpur.
Nagendra Pradhan, who switched to Congress from BJD stating that the BJD and BJP were involved in a “friendly fight” to deprive the people, faced defeat in Sambalpur.
ASSEMBLY SEATS
Among the defeated defectors are BJD’s Sukanta Nayak from Nilagiri, Madhab Dhada from Soro, Prakash Behera from Barabati-Cuttack, BJP’s Tejeswar Parida from Patkura, Priyadarshi Mishra from Bhubaneswar North, Arindam Roy from Salepur, Kailash Kulesika from Laxmipur, Dambaru Sisa from Chitrakonda and Congress’ Sipra Mallick from Kendrapada.
Rohit Tirkey, Congress leader and son of tribal leader George Tirkey, won Birmitrapur seat on BJD ticket, while Santosh Khatua, who was earlier with BJD, won from Nilagiri as BJP candidate. Ganeswar Behera, who got BJD ticket after quitting Congress, emerged victorious in Kendrapara Assembly seat.
Expelled BJD leader and Chilika MLA Prashanta Jagdev won from the Khurda assembly segment and so also former Berhampur MP Siddhant Mohapatra won from Digapahandi assembly constituency as BJP candidates.
Adhiraj Panigrahi of BJD and Akash Daanayak, Nihar Ranjan Mohananda and Parshuram Dhada of BJP were among the others to score a win after switching allegiance at the last moment ahead of the polls.
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