BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik is well on his way to form government in Odisha for a fifth consecutive time, early trends of counting for the
Assembly polls suggest. While BJD is leading in 101 assembly seats, the BJP which is ahead in 29 seats, is far behind. The main opposition Congress has, however, slumped to the third position behind the BJP in the state.
In the Lok Sabha polls, the BJD is also well ahead of its main rival BJP by leading in at least 14 constituencies, according to the latest trends. The BJP is leading in 7 Lok Sabha seats, though the trends in some of the constituencies are fluctuating.
While the Patnaik is leading in both the seats of Hinjili and Bijepur, his opponent Congress president Niranjan Patnaik is trailing in both the seats Ghasipura and Bhandaripokhari. However, leader
of the opposition in the outgoing assembly Narasingh Mishra is ahead of his BJD rival in Balangir assembly seat. According to reports, Congress is ahead in
13 assembly seats in Odisha.
Prominent among those trailing in Odisha include the BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda from the Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat which had consumed a lot of media space during the last one month. Another prominent BJP candidate, Prakash Mishra is also trailing behind in the Cuttack Lok Sabha constituency. Mishra was pitted against BJD veteran Bhartruhari Mahatab in Cuttack.
BJP state president Basant Panda and national spokesperson Sambit Patra are leading from Kalahandi and Puri Lok Sabha constituencies. Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram is also leading from the Sundargarh Lok Sabha constituency. While Aparajita Sarangi of BJP is leading from the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha constituency, former union minister Chandrasekhar Sahu is leading from the
Berhampur parliamentary constituency.