Our Poll Management Was Not Perfect: Jayanarayan

Bhubaneswar: BJP leader Jayanarayan Mishra on Friday admitted that the party fell behind the BJD in the management of the elections.

Talking to mediapersons, he said the difference of votes between the BJD and the BJP in this election was about 14 lakh. While the BJD had 1.04 crore votes, the BJP had about 90 lakh votes. But the BJD had an edge over the BJP in terms of managing the elections as the ruling party had the money and manpower, its main criteria for winning the elections. “The BJD had used government machinery to the hilt and used the bureaucrats to manage the election. Nonetheless, people’s support to the BJP was remarkable. The vote share of the BJP in this Assembly election has gone up by 17 per cent,” he added.

Replying to a question on the poor performance of the BJP in the Assembly elections despite the Modi wave in Odisha, Mishra said the people had a doubt that whether a party, which had won only 10 Assembly seats in 2014, would be able to get a majority in this election to form a government.

He, however, said that his party will review its poll performance and take remedial measures for the next election.

Asked whether the poor performance of the BJP in the Assembly election will demoralise the party leaders and workers, he said in fact the people have given BJP the responsibility of being the main opposition party.

Mishra had won from Sambalpur Assembly defeating the sitting MLA Raseswari Panigrahi.