BJD polls 37 per cent of votes in Lok sabha elections

The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) which has bagged 14 out of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the 2009 elections has recorded a 23.85 per cent growth in its voting percentage in the recently concluded elections compared to the 2004 Lok Sabha polls.

The BJD polled 37.18 of the votes in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections as against 30.02 per cent recorded by the party in the 2004 elections. Among the other political parties, Congress polled 31.02 per cent of the votes followed by BJP at 16.89 per cent.

The Communist Party of India (CPI) polled 3.76 per cent of the votes while the vote share of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) stood at 1.76 per cent and 1.31 per cent respectively. ]

A total of 2,71,60,000 voters in Orissa had cast their vote for the 21 Lok Sabha and 147 Assembly seats in the 2009 elections which was held in two phases in the state. The first phase of elections witnessed a voter turnout of 66 per cent while 67 per cent of the voters exercised their franchise in the second phase. In the first phase, elections were held in the 10 Lok Sabha and 70 assembly constituencies in the state while in the second phase, 11 Lok Sabha and 77 Assembly constituencies went for the polls.

Though the exact percentage of votes by different parties in the Assembly elections which was held along with the Lok Sabha polls is yet to be calculated, here also there was massive swing of votes in favour BJD as the party captured 103 of the 147 seats improving upon its previous election tally. In 2004 polls, the party had got 61 seats out of 84 seats it had contested. It had then left 63 seats to its ally BJP which had returned with a figure of 32. Both BJD and BJP together were winners in 92 seats and formed a coalition government.

But the BJD severed its 11 year old ties with BJP just months before the elections this time and had gone to polls with seat sharing arrangement with Nationalist Congress Party, CPI and CPM. In the process, BJP, which went to polls alone, has performed miserably with its seat tally reduced to only 6. The Congress, the main opposition party in the state, has also turned up an equally poor performance by winning in only 27 of the 147 seats it contested. It is down by 11 seats fom its previous tally.

This stupendous show by BJD in the 2009 polls is mainly attributed to its ability to project the clean image and good governance of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, the successful implementation of the Rs 2 per kg rice scheme of the government, effective utilization of the Central funds for rural infrastructure development, implementation of flagship programmes like Biju Gramjyoti Yojana, Gopabandhu Gramin Yojana and Madhubabu Pension Plan and moreover, strengthening of organization network, the process for which started two years before.

On the other hand, while the BJP was completely in disarray following the breaking up ties with BJD, the Congress’ state leadership was unable to carry the message about various pro-poor welfare schemes being implemented by the UPA government at the Centre to the people and was steeped in infighting. This led to their drubbing at the hustings, point out poll analysts.