BHUBANESWAR: The stupendous victory of BJD, unexpected as it was, has led to a substantial increase in its vote base. From about 38.86 per cent in 2009, the regional party has grabbed over 44 per cent votes this poll, which meant at least 44 out of 100 voters pitched in for the ruling party.
The bigger share in the votes polled meant that BJD was on its way to improve its tally in the Assembly - from 103 in 2009 to 117 - the best figure notched up by Naveen Patnaik. Till the last reports came in, the ruling party had registered over 93.46 lakh votes and counting was still underway.
The BJP also improved its show as its vote share rose from 15.05 pc in 2009 to 21.6 pc in the current election but its figures did not show a proportionate increase with the saffron party managing just about 10 seats. In 2009 elections, it had six seats in the Assembly.
The loser, however, has been Congress. The anti-Congress sentiment among people was clear in its dropping vote share which fell from 29.1 pc in 2009 to 25.9 pc.
Despite bagging a quarter of the votes polled, the national party has managed just about 16 seats.
What does the rising vote share of BJD mean? Some say, it was a pro-incumbency vote while others attribute it to anti-Congress sentiment sweeping across the country after a decade of UPA Government.
“The fact that Congress has lost about three to four pc of the vote share and BJD gained as much can be attributed to the fact that people voted for status quo since they wanted to vote against Congress in the State. The regional party ate into the national party’s pie,” said an analyst.
Another possible reason behind BJD’s rising vote share in face of a daunting Modi wave is attributed to a dual choice faced by the voters.
“In the absence of Congress as an option, people had to choose between Naveen and Modi. They chose Naveen though in some parts, the saffron influence led the BJP to garner a few more seats,” said another expert.
