NEW DELHI: The chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced that assembly elections in Odisha will be conducted simultaneously with Lok Sabha elections. Assembly elections will be held in four phases on 13 May, 20 May, 25 May and 1 June. Counting of votes will be done on 4 June.
In 2019, out of 147-member Odisha Assembly,
BJD
won 113 seats, BJP secured 23 seats and INC got 9 seats. CPM and IND secured one seat each.
Naveen Patnaik
became the chief minister for fifth consecutive time and is currently the second-longest serving CM in India only behind Pawan Chamling.
"There is no place for bloodbath and violence in the elections...From wherever we will receive the information of violence, we will take action against them," says CEC Rajiv Kumar.
He further said that drone-based checking will be done at borders during polls. Money seizures rose by 835% to Rs 3,400 crore in last 11 state polls during 2022-23; we won't allow misuse of money power.
Additionally, Kumar said, "Ready to facilitate vote from home for electors above 85 years of age and for persons with disabilities."
Politics in Odisha appears to be undergoing a significant transformation. Speculations suggest that the ruling Biju Janata Dal, led by Naveen Patnaik, may form an alliance with the BJP, the primary opposition party, before the upcoming elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to the state sparked further interest as he refrained from criticizing the Odisha government, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, or the BJD.
Odisha has 21 Lok Sabha constituencies out of which 13 are unreserved and the rest are reserved for SC and ST category . In 2019 BJD firmly secured 12 seats while BJP got 8 and 1 was won by Congress. 2,37,90,972 voters out of 3,12,52,333 electors cast their votes and the voter turnout was 76.1% Elections for the 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha were conducted in four phases -- from April 11 to 29, 2019.
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