BJD In Pole Position In Odisha

If the first half of the day is any indication, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is set to prove pollsters wrong and sweep back to power in Odisha and send the most number of members from the state to the parliament. The BJD is now leading in 113 out of 146 assembly seats with a nearly 45 per cent vote share. The BJP is leading in 21 seats and the Congress has been decimated with leads in only 10 seats.

But the bigger story is playing out on the Lok Sabha election front where the trends are far away from most of the opinion and exit polls. The BJP is leading in only 7 out of the 21 seats with the BJD registering a lead in the remaining. Baijayant Panda contesting from Kendrapara in Odisha is currently trailing with a margin of 27,000+ votes. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra is leading by a narrow margin of 2,000 votes in Puri. BJP has a lead in Bargarh, Kalahandi, Sundergarh, Bolangir and Sambalpur of West Odisha and Puri and Bhubaneshwar in coastal Odisha,