Odisha: Several ministers resigned; new ministers to take oath tomorrow

ODISHA: Several cabinet ministers in the Odisha government resigned on Saturday, and the new ministers will be sworn in at 12 p.m. tomorrow. The ruling BJD party won a landslide victory in the Brajrajnagar assembly by-poll on Friday. Alaka Mohanty, a BJD candidate, won by a margin of 66,122 votes, relegating the BJP to third place for the first time since 2019. Due to the untimely death of her husband, Brajrajnagar MLA Kishore Mohanty, and the popularity of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Mohanty won the seat on the crest of a sympathy wave.

Mohanty won 93,953 votes in the bye-election, which was held ahead of the 2024 simultaneous general election and state election, defeating Congress veteran Kishore Patel, who received 27,831 votes. According to the Election Commission, BJP candidate Radharani Panda, a former Brajrajnagar MLA, received 22,630 votes and lost her deposit. The margin in the Brajrajnagar by-poll is the highest in all of Odisha's by-polls since 2019. According to the EC, the BJD candidate received 61.25 percent of the vote, the Congress received 18.14 percent, and the BJP received 14.75 percent of the vote, or less than one-sixth of the vote, and thus lost the deposit.

The CPI candidate received 2.02% of the vote, while NOTA received 0.99 percent of the vote. The race for the seat drew a total of 11 candidates. The ruling BJD candidate was in the lead from the start of the 20-round counting. Bye-elections in Bijepur, Balasore, Tirtol, and Pipili had previously been won by BJD candidates. In all of these by-elections, the BJP came in second, with Congress candidates losing their deposits in all but Tirtol. The vote counting began at 8 a.m. on Friday and ended after 20 rounds.

On May 31, 71.73 percent of the 2,14,878 eligible voters, or 1,553,716 people, exercised their right to vote. "I congratulate BJD candidate Alaka Mohanty on her victory," Patnaik, who is also the BJD president, tweeted. I also want to thank the people of Brajrajnagar, as well as all of the party workers and leaders who put in long hours. Our commitment to pledge for service has been reaffirmed as a result of this victory."

Mohanty said, “I am very grateful to CM Naveen Patnaik for having faith in me and giving me the ticket for the by-poll. I also want to thank party workers who worked really hard with me in the scorching hit for the by-poll. Besides, I am thankful to the people of Brajrajnagar for their support. I will work really hard for the overall development of the constituency.” Mohanty said she would work with all dedication as her husband Kishore Mohanty used to.

In 2014, Radharani Panda won the elections, and the ruling BJD won the seat in the most recent state election in 2019. Sarat Pattnayak, the newly appointed president of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee, said the Brajrajnagar election result has sent a clear message to the people that the Congress, not the BJP, is the true opposition.

"The BJD and the BJP are two sides of the same coin. People are waking up to the fact that the BJP is the shadow opposition." According to Pattnayak, the BJD and Congress will compete in the general and state elections in 2024. The BJD won nearly 90% of the seats in the recently concluded panchayat and urban elections earlier this year.