The Bharatiya Janata Party is set to breach the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) bastion Odisha, according to IANS-CVOTER exit poll.
The survey predicts that the BJP will win 10 seats and the BJD will settle for 11. Though the two parties are predicted to be neck and neck, it will be a giant stride for the BJP which had won a single seat in 2014. It could mean a steep fall for the BJD after winning 20 out of 21 seats in he previous elections.
The BJP's focus on Odisha as a new expansion ground seems to be paying off. The simultaneous assembly elections, however, had sent confusing signal as BJD remained popular in the local polls with people preferring Narendra Modi at the national level.
--IANS
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