BJP improves showing in Odisha LS polls, wins 5 seats

The BJP has improved its Lok Sabha performance in Odisha by winning five seats and remaining ahead in two out of the 21 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.

This is a great shift from 2014 when the saffron party had won only one Lok Sabha seat in the state.

The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has won seven seats and is leading in six, accoring to the results and trends made available by the Election Commission.

Union Minister Jual Oram, BJP national secretary Suresh Pujari, former bureaucrat Aparajita Sarangi are among the prominent BJP winners.

BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda and national spokesperson of the saffron party Sambit Patra are among the losers.

Union Minister and BJP leader Jual Oram was Friday declared elected from Sundargarh Parliamentary constituency which he represented in the outgoing Lok Sabha.

The firebrand tribal leader retained the reserved seat by defeating his nearest BJD nominee Sunita Biswal by a margin of 2,23,065 votes.

Oram had been elected from Sundergarh (ST) constituency in 2014 beating BJD's Dilip Tirkey by 18,829 votes.

In the prestigious Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha constituency, former bureaucrat Aparajita Sarangi of the BJP defeated BJD nominee Arup Mohan Patnaik, retired IPS officer and former Mumbai police commissioner, by a margin of 23,829 votes.

Similarly, BJP's national secretary Suresh Pujari won from Bargarh seat by defeating BJD candidate and Rajya Sabha MP, Prasanna Acharya by 63,939 votes.

This was Pujari's first major electoral victory in Bargarh, where BJD's Pravash Kumar Singh was elected in 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

BJD candidate Pramila Bisoyi won from Aska Lok Sabha constituency defeating BJP's Anita Subhadarshini by 2,04,707 votes in her maiden poll battle.

In the politically sensitive Kendrapara Lok Sabha constituency, BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda was defeated by BJD candidate and Rajy Sabha MP Anubhav Mohanty.

Mohanty, the actor-turned-politician of the BJD, beat Panda by a margin of 1,52,584 votes. Panda, who was elected from Kendrapara in 2014 polls as a BJD candidate, had resigned from the regional party and Lok Sabha membership last year following differences with the leadership.

In Puri, Pinaki Mishra of the BJD defeated BJP's Sambit Patra by 11,714 votes.

BJD candidate Bhartruhari Mahtab retained his Cuttack Lok Sabha seat by defeating BJP's Prakash Mishra, former Director General of CRPF and ex-DGP of Odisha, by a magrin of 1,21,201 votes.

In Jajpur, BJD candidate Sarmistha Sethi won from Jajpur (SC) lok sabha constituency by defeating her nearest BJP rival Amiya Kanta Mallick by 1,01,693 votes.

Congress candidate Saptagiri Ulaka won from Koraput (ST) Lok Sabha constituency beating BJD's Kausalya Hikaka by 3,613 votes.

Ulaka, who fought his maiden poll battle, was the only Congress nominee to taste victory in the Lok Sabha elections in Odisha as the grand old party virtually faced a rout.