Odisha News: Jai won the Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat after a gap of 5 years

KENDRAPARA. KENDRAPARA: The victory of BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda from the prestigious Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat has dealt a blow to the BJD, whose president Naveen Patnaik had tried his best to ensure the victory of his candidate Anshuman Mohanty.

The election in this constituency was seen as a litmus test for Panda, who wanted to return to the lower house of Parliament after a gap of five years. This Lok Sabha constituency is historically associated with veteran politician and former chief minister Biju Patnaik, who won the seat three times in a row as a Janata Party and Janata Dal candidate in 1977, 1980 and 1984. Biju’s charisma and his flamboyant personality worked and he remains etched in the memories of voters here even after his death. Biju Babu’s son Naveen is also popular among the locals, but this time the wave was in favour of BJD and Panda.

Panda was a Rajya Sabha member of BJD from 2000 to 2006 and again from 2006 to 2009. He was later elected to Lok Sabha twice from Kendrapara parliamentary constituency as a BJD candidate in 2009 and 2014. However, in 2019, he contested on a BJP ticket and lost to BJD’s Anubhav Mohanty by a margin of 1,81, 483 votes. Out of the seven assembly constituencies falling under the parliamentary seat, BJD candidates won from Patkura, Rajnagar, Aul, Salipur and Kendrapara. However, BJP’s Durga Prasan Nayak defeated BJD’s Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak from Mahakalpada. Similarly, independent candidate Sarada Prasad Padhan won from Mahanga defeating Ankit Pratap Jena, son of former MLA and minister Pratap Jena.