Odisha assembly election: Exit poll predicts nail-biting contest between BJD, BJP

Odisha will see a neck-and-neck contest between the ruling BJD and the opposition BJP over which party will form the next government in the eastern state, with the India Today-Axis My India exit poll giving 62-80 seats to both parties in the 147-member assembly.

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As per the projections, the BJP, which had a 32.49% vote share in 2019, is now likely to secure 42% votes, an increase of nearly 10%. The Congress is likely to be a distant third with five to eight seats and 12% votes, the figures show.

In the 2019 assembly elections, the electors in Odisha, which holds simultaneous state and Lok Sabha polls, gave 117 seats to the Biju Janata Dal, 23 to the Bharatiya Janata Party, and nine to the Congress. BJD president Naveen Patnaik, who became chief minister for the first time in 2000, was re-elected to serve his fifth consecutive term, making him one of the longest-serving chief ministers of the country.

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The BJP, a former ally of the BJD, has, in recent years, established itself as the coastal sate's principal opposition party. In their campaigning for the recent assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP centered their attack around Naveen Patnaik's health, and how the senior politician was trying to “impose” his trusted aide, bureaucrat-turned-BJD member VK Pandian, who is from Tamil Nadu, as Odisha's CM.

Also Read: Naveen Patnaik trying to impose Tamil CM on Odisha, alleges Amit Shah

The BJD, on the other hand, pegged its campaign around the Patnaik government's welfare works and its schemes. The chief minister also issued a video statement to declare his health as “perfect.”