Today marks the culmination of the electoral showdown in Odisha, as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appears poised to seize power, heralding a potential end to the longstanding dominance of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).

Despite Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s robust campaign efforts, current vote counts favour the saffron party, with BJP leading in 73 seats compared to BJD’s 57, with the Congress trailing at 14. Additionally, the CPI-M holds one seat lead, while the INDIA bloc leads in two seats.

The battlegrounds of Balasore and Mayurbhanj have emerged as pivotal arenas in this political tussle between the BJP and BJD.

As early trends suggest a potential role reversal, with BJD possibly assuming the mantle of the opposition party, the state’s political landscape stands on the brink of transformation.

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These early indicators echo the forecasts of the 2024 Lok Sabha Exit Polls, which predicted a decisive victory for the BJP. Various polls, including those conducted by ABP-CVoter and India Today-My Axis, anticipated significant gains for the BJP, with projections ranging from 17-20 seats.

Among the key figures in contention are Pratap Sarangi (Balasore), Manju Lata Mandal (Bhadrak), Sarmistha Sethi (Jajpur), and Rajashree Mallick (Jagatsinghpur), alongside prominent political figures such as Odisha Assembly Speaker Pramila Mallik, Government Chief Whip Prashant Kumar Mudili, and several Odisha ministers including Sudam Marandi, Ashwini Patra, Pritiranjan Ghadai, Atanu S Nayak, Pratap Deb, and T K Behera.

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