State polls buck Lok Sabha trend as local stalwarts steal the show

Naveen Patnaik is set for a fifth term in Odisha; Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSR Congress sweeps Andhra Pradesh; SKM ahead of ruling SDF in Sikkim; Prema Khandu-led BJP set to retain Arunachal Pradesh

The Assembly elections in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Sikkim appear to have bucked the Modi wave. 

In Odisha, Naveen Patnaik has retained his bastion; in Andhra Pradesh, Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has stunned Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party (TDP) with a huge victory while the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) may be set to upset the Sikkim Democratic Front’s (SDF’s) winning streak.   

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is coasting home to a fifth straight term in power, contradicting naysayers on anti-incumbency and dip in mass appeal.

Patnaik, who first tasted electoral success in Odisha’s Assembly poll in 2000, has