Interesting electoral tussle in Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Odisha

Odisha is all set for the seventh and final phase of the Lok Sabha elections 2024 as the last phase covers a significant portion of the coastal state.

The polling on June 1 will encompass Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur parliamentary constituencies across the state.

The state has 21 Lok Sabha seats and in the 2019 general elections, the BJP had won eight seats while the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) had bagged 12 seats. In 2014, the BJD had won 20 seats and BJP managed just one.

Odisha is also witnessing elections to 147 Assembly constituencies simultaneously.

As many as 42 Assembly seats that go to polls in the last phase are likely to witness close electoral contests. The poll process in Odisha is spread over four phases between May 13 and June 1.

The BJD formed its government for a historic fifth straight term after the 2019 Assembly polls as the party managed to negate the sweeping Modi wave and retained power. Of 147 Assembly seats, the BJP was able to win only 22 in the 2019 polls.

Since the last general and Assembly polls in Odisha, the BJP has been trying to project itself as the growing alternative party, promising the people that it will be able to govern the resource-rich coastal state in a much better and efficient manner.

This time around the BJD is expressing confidence of increasing its parliamentary seat count while the BJP is fighting a tough battle to improve its electoral performance. The Congress too is hoping to better its seat count from Odisha.

The BJD is focussing its campaign on the development that its rule has brought in the state and banking on the clean image of the party supremo and chief minister Naveen Patnaik.