Lok Sabha election 2019: Voting to begin for 21 seats in Odisha

PURI: It's Sunday, May 23, 2019. Voting will shortly begin to decide the fate of 174 candidates in fray from 21 Lok Sabha constituencies in Odisha in a short while from now. The voting in 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha was held in four phases of 2019 Lok Sabha election from April 11 till April 29.

Counting will begin at 8 AM. This time, due to the Supreme Court's instruction to the Election Commission (EC), the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips tally will also be taken into account while counting the votes. Paper slips of five VVPATs per assembly segment in every parliamentary segment will be counted. The vote tallying will begin after the last round of counting. This is likely to delay the results by at least five hours or more.

The fate of 174 candidates in fray from 21 Lok Sabha constituencies, which voted in four phases of 2019 Lok Sabha election from April 11 till April 29, will be decided on May 23, Thursday. The final results will be declared after the counting of votes is over. 

Lok Sabha constituencies which went to polls in the first phase on April 11 are - Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Berhampur, Koraput. In the second phase on April 18, voting was held in Bargarh, Sundargarh, Bolangir, Kandhamal, Aska. All the constituencies in Sambalpur, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Puri and Bhubaneswar regions voted in the third phase on April 23. All the constituencies in Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur regions voted in the fourth phase on April 29.

The total number of electorates eligible to vote for the Odisha Assembly and Lok Sabha elections stood at 3.18 crore. Of the total 3.18 crore electorates, 1.63 crores are males while 1.54 crore are females. The state also registered over 5.45 lakh first-time voters, who come in the age group of 18 to 19 years.

The state electoral body had set up 37,606 polling stations for the smooth, free and fair conduct of the polls in Odisha. As many as 4,154 polling stations were set up in urban regions while 33,452 polling stations lie in rural regions of the state.

The state witnessed a triangular contest between the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress. BJD chief Naveen Patnaik is one of the strongest contenders. Besides, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, former BJD leader Baijayant Panda, who recently joined hands with the saffron party, Congress’ Niranjan Patnaik and Narasingha Mishra are also in the fray. BJD’s Bhartruhari Mahtab and former state finance minister Prasanna Acharya are also among the prominent faces to watch out for.

Though most of the exit polls have predicted that BJP will make inroads in the Odisha this time riding on the popularity of PM Modi, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has expressed hopes that his party will play a crucial role in the government formation at the Centre. In the Biju Janata Dal-ruled Odisha, the BJP has been projected to win 12 Lok Sabha seats, a big leap from 2014 when it had won just 1 seat. Naveen Patnaik's BJD is likely to win 8 seats while just 1 seat may go to the Congress party.

Key Lok Sabha constituencies to watch out for is Kandhamal (BJD's Achyuta Samanta, Kharavela Swain of BJP and Monoj Acharya of Congress), Puri (BJD's Pinaki Misra vs BJP's Sambit Patra); Bhubaneswar (IAS-IPS battle between BJP’s Aparajita Sarangi and BJD’s Arup Patnaik); Cuttack(DGP Prakash Mishra (BJP) vs Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD) vs Panchanan Kanungo of Congress). Sambalpur (BJP’s Nitesh Gangdev vs BJD’s Nalinikanta Pradhan vs Congress’ Sarat Patnaik). Dhenkanal (BJP's Rudra Narayan Pani vs BJD's Mahesh Sahu and Congress' KP Singh Deo)

In 2014 general elections, the BJD had secured 20 seats, the BJP one and the Congress had drawn a blank. 

Though most of the exit polls have predicted that BJP will make inroads in the Odisha this time riding on the popularity of PM Modi, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has expressed hopes that his party will play a crucial role in the government formation at the Centre. In the Biju Janata Dal-ruled Odisha, the BJP has been projected to win 12 Lok Sabha seats, a big leap from 2014 when it had won just 1 seat. Naveen Patnaik's BJD is likely to win 8 seats while just 1 seat may go to the Congress party.

Key Lok Sabha constituencies to watch out for is Kandhamal (BJD's Achyuta Samanta, Kharavela Swain of BJP and Monoj Acharya of Congress), Puri (BJD's Pinaki Misra vs BJP's Sambit Patra); Bhubaneswar (IAS-IPS battle between BJP’s Aparajita Sarangi and BJD’s Arup Patnaik); Cuttack(DGP Prakash Mishra (BJP) vs Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD) vs Panchanan Kanungo of Congress). Sambalpur (BJP’s Nitesh Gangdev vs BJD’s Nalinikanta Pradhan vs Congress’ Sarat Patnaik). Dhenkanal (BJP's Rudra Narayan Pani vs BJD's Mahesh Sahu and Congress' KP Singh Deo).

In 2014 general elections, the BJD had secured 20 seats, the BJP one and the Congress had drawn a blank.

The announcement of 2019 Lok Sabha election results in Odisha is likely to be delayed compared to other states since votes for assembly polls will also have to be counted. Besides, voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPATs) will also have to be counted and that will also take some time, the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Surendra Kumar had said. The counting of Lok Sabha votes in Odisha will be held in 7 tables each for the Lok Sabha and the state Assembly, the CEO said adding that declaration of results will take time in Odisha for this reason.