Naveen wave drowns Modi magic in Cuttack

His clean image and work done by the BJD Government made it easy for the party’s candidates to emerge victorious.
Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik shows victory sign at Naveen Niwas in Bhubaneswar on Thursday | Express
Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik shows victory sign at Naveen Niwas in Bhubaneswar on Thursday | Express

CUTTACK: Naveen Patnaik wave drowned the Modi magic in Cuttack by sweeping all the Assembly segments of the district except Barabati-Cuttack seat, which went to the Congress, and the Lok Sabha seat. 
The BJP has not been able to bag a single seat in the district though it put up a straight fight in six Assembly segments of the district, relegating Congress to the third position. 
Congress, which has been nearly decimated in the State, has fared well in the prestigious Barabati-Cuttack seat with the party’s city president Mohammad Moquim defeating BJD’s district unit chief Debashis Samantaray by over 4,000 votes. 

As per the data available by the end of 25 rounds of counting of votes, while BJD’s Souvik Biswal was ahead of BJP’s State general secretary Nayan Kishore Mohanty by a margin of over 16,551 votes in Choudwar-Cuttack segment, Sports and Youth Services Minister Chandra Sarathi Behera was leading by 12,635 votes from his nearest rival Dillip Mallik of BJP in Cuttack Sadar seat. 
Similarly, BJD’s Devi Ranjan Tripathy was ahead of Debasis Patnaik of Congress in Banki Assembly segment by 15,000 votes while former Minister Debi Prasad Mishra of the ruling party was leading from his nearest rival Bijay Dalabehera of BJP by over 14,397 votes in Badamba.
BJD’s firebrand leader Ranendra Pratap Swain was also ahead of his nearest rival Brajendra Kumar Ray of BJP by 39,372 votes in Athagarh. Ruling party candidate Prasant Behera was leading by 17,740 votes from Prakash Behera of BJP in Salepur. 

Both Mahanga and Niali Assembly segments, which have a history of not enabling a hat-trick for any of its MLAs, however, are set to break the tradition by electing their sitting legislators for the third consecutive term. 
Health and Family Welfare Minister Pratap Jena was ahead of BJP’s Sarada Pradhan by around 21,362 votes in Mahanga while BJD’s sitting MLA Pramod Mallik was leading from his nearest rival Chhabi Mallik of BJP by over 22,892 votes.  

BJD’s MP candidate Bhartruhari Mahtab, who was ahead of BJP’s Prakash Mishra by 83,126 votes, is all set to win the Cuttack Parliamentary constituency for the sixth consecutive time. 
“We failed to cash in on Modi wave that swept across the country,” admitted Nayan. 
On the other hand, a jubiliant Mahatab said, “The inspiring leadership of Naveen Patnaik made all the difference. His clean image and work done by the BJD Government made it easy for the party’s candidates to emerge victorious.”

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