BJP appears set for major gains in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) appeared set for major gains in Lok Sabha polls in Odisha with its candidates leading in nine seats, while the ruling BJD is ahead in 12.
As per the latest trend, BJP candidates are leading in Balasore, Bargarh, Bhubaneswar, Balangir, Kalahandi, Sundargarh, Sambalpur and Puri, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Surendra Kumar said.
This is a great shift from 2014 when the saffron party had won only one out of the 21 Lok Sabha seats.
Biju Janata Dal (BJD) of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, which had a spectacular show in the 2014 polls by winning 20 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats, saw its tally sliding slightly as its candidates were now leading in 12 seats.
Union Minister Jual Oram, who is leading over his nearest rival George Tirkey of Congress by around one lakh votes in Sundargarh, was the only BJP candidate to have won a seat.
This time in all Lok Sabha constituencies, barring Puri, where BJP candidates are leading had seen rallies by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the run up to the elections.
The saffron party is seeing a neck to neck fight in Mayurbhanj parliamentary seat where BJP candidate Bishweswar Tudu is leading over BJD by only 97 votes till 5.30pm.
BJP's Puri candidate Sambit Patra, an official spokesman of the party, is ahead of BJD candidate and sitting MP Pinaki Mishra by only 6,150 votes in a closely fought contest.
Likewise, firebrand leader and BJP candidate Pratap Sarangi is leading by a thin margin of 4,474 votes against BJD nominee and sitting MP Rabindra Kumar Jena in Balasore.
Former bureaucrat and BJP nominee Aparajita Sarangi is ahead of BJD's Arup Mohan Patnaik, a retired IPS officer and ex-Mumbai police commissioner, by 12,494 votes.
In Bolangir seat, BJP candidate Sangeeta Singhdeo is ahead of her brother-in-law and sitting BJD MP, Kalikesh Narayan Singhdeo by 13,023 votes.