TNI Bureau: The 24-year-long tenure of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik came to an end, with the aggressive Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) poised to form Government with a clear majority in Odisha.
By 11 PM, the BJP had won 76 seats while leading in 2 seats.
Patnaik, who became the Chief Minister for the first term in 2000, is the second longest serving CM of the country after Pawan Kumar Chamling, the former Chief Minister of Sikkim.
Several Ministers in Naveen Patnaik’s Cabinet also lost the Assembly seats.
Higher Education Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Transport Minister Tukuni Sahu, Science and Technology Minister Ashok Chandra Panda, Finance Minister Bikram Keshari Arukha, Handlooms and Textiles Minister Rita Sahu and Women and Child Development Minister Basanti Hembram lost the Assembly seats.
Other prominent BJD leaders who lost the poll included Pranab Balabantaray, Pritiranjan Ghadai, Debi Prasad Mishra, Susanta Singh, Ramesh Chandra Chyau Patnaik, Prafulla Samal, Snehangini Chhuria, Pushpendra Singh Deo, Ramesh Majhi, Pradeep Amat, Sanjay Das Burma, Rohit Pujari, Debesh Acharya and Deepali Das.
On the other hand, Former Union Minister and sitting BJP MP Jual Oram, along with BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, BJP’s national vice-president Baijayant Panda, ex-Union Minister Pratap Chandra Sarangi, MP Aparajita Sarangi and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan won the Lok Sabha seat in Odisha.
