Bhubaneswar, Nov 15: In the 2019 Assembly election, Biju Janata Dal had won a thumping majority in the state. Particularly in Ganjam, the homedistrict of CM Naveen Pattnaik party performed excellently. In all 5 constituencies under the Chhatrapur sub-division namely Chhatrapur, Khallikote, Polasara, Kabi Suryanagar, and Hinjili BJD had captured all. But the equation has changed drastically on the ground, Instead of Congress, BJP has become the main opposition party.
Now the BJP has been gathering strength in these areas. Especially in Chhatrapur, it is said that there has been a noticeable change. BJP has fetched a large part of Congress votes.
In all these seats, the BJP had stood in second position in the last election. In Khalikote, Polasara, Kabisuryanagar, and Chhatrapur, the BJP emerged as the main challenger to the ruling BJD. Apart from Chhatrapur, the BJP is also advancing in other constituencies.
Since 2000, the BJP has been able to create its own vote bank in the Chhatrapur seat. In the 2000 election, Rama Chandra Panda had won as a BJP MLA from here and became the Deputy Speaker of the Odisha assembly. Since then, the BJP managed to create a vote bank in this area. The BJP vote share is also going ups and downs. In the 2009 election BJP had secured 29687 votes and in 2014, it fetched 27511 votes. Last time in 2019, the party's vote was doubled, securing 53,543 votes. The BJP was now able to give a tough fight to the ruling party BJD.
