Naveen Patnaik Among Party Presidents Who Faced Defeat In Odisha Assembly Polls

Bhubaneswar: BJD president Naveen Patnaik and BJP and Congress state chiefs Manmohan Samal and Sarat Pattanayak respectively, had to face defeat in the Odisha assembly elections.

Though Naveen won from his home turf Hinjili assembly seat in Ganjam district by a slender margin of 4,636 votes, the five-term former chief minister had to suffer defeat in Kantabanji constituency in Balangir.

The BJD supremo lost Kantabanji to BJP’s Laxman Bag by 16,344 votes. While Bag polled 90,876 votes, Naveen received 74,532 votes.

This was Naveen’s first electoral defeat in his political career spanning 26 years.

While the BJP stormed to power in Odisha by securing 78 seats in the 147-member assembly, the party’s state unit president Manmohan Samal suffered defeat in Chandbali segment to BJD’s Byomakesh Ray by a thin margin of 1,916 votes.

While Ray secured 83,063 votes, Samal could manage to get 81,147 votes.

Similarly, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Sarat Pattanayak suffered a worse fate as he finished fourth in Nuapada assembly segment, bagging only 15,501 votes.

The seat was bagged by BJD candidate Rajendra Dholakia, who got 61,822 votes, while independent nominee Ghasiram Majhi came second, securing 50,941 votes.