After completion of third round, major pol parties claim

With completion of polling on 15 Lok Sabha seats and 105 assembly segments after the third phase, all the three major political parties of Odisha--BJD, BJP and Congress--Wednesday claimed performing better than the rivals.

While BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has claimed that his party has already got majority to form government in the state by the end of third phase of polling, opposition Congress too made similar assertions.

Goining a step ahead, Patnaik also invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to join the BJD government's swearing in ceremony as a guest after declartion of results on May 23.

BJD spokesman Sasmit Patra claimed that the regional party which has 118 MLAs in the 147-member Odisha Assembly and 20 of 21 MPs, will perform better than the 2014 results.

Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra is optimistic about his party candidates success in 2019 polls.

"Our OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik has already said that Congress will form government this time," Mishra said. The Congress has only 11 MLAs and no Lok Sabha member from Odisha currently.

BJP state vice-president Samir Mohanty said: "Our candidates will win more than half of the seats both in Lok Sabha and state assembly."