Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik resigns after electoral defeat, BJP to form new govt

BHUBANESWAR: After suffering a massive defeat in the state Assembly and Parliamentary elections, the 24-year-old tenure of Odisha CM and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik concluded as he submitted his resignation to the Odisha Governor Raghubar Das at the Raj Bhavan in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday.

The Biju Janata Dal, which has ruled Odisha since 1997, lost to the BJP breaking the 24-year-old reign of Naveen Patnaik as the Chief Minister. The BJP secured 78 seats in the 147-seat Assembly. The BJD secured 51 seats, way behind the majority mark of 74, and the Indian National Congress secured 14 seats.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls also, BJP performed well by securing 20 out of the 21 parliamentary seats of the state, the remaining one seat was won by Congress.

#WATCH | Outgoing Odisha CM and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik met Governor Raghubar Das at Raj Bhavan in Bhubaneswar and tendered his resignation today.

BJD lost the Odisha Assembly elections, winning just 51 of the total 147 seats in the state.

(Visuals: I&PR department, Odisha) pic.twitter.com/erz33P5xyb

— ANI (@ANI) June 5, 2024

Naveen Patnaik had made an unexpected entry into state politics through the BJD, a party named after his father, the former Odisha CM Biju Patnaik. His political journey began with a victory in the 1998 Lok Sabha bypoll, representing his father’s constituency of Aska.

Following the BJD’s success in the 2000 Assembly elections, forming a coalition with the BJP and gaining a majority, Patnaik resigned from his position in the Union Cabinet to assume the role of chief minister. Since then, he has been the second longest-serving Chief Minister after Sikkim CM Pawan Kumar Chamling.

The counting of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was held on Tuesday. According to the Election Commission of India, the BJP won 240 seats, much lower than its 2019 tally of 303. The Congress, on the other hand, registered a strong growth, winning 99 seats. The INDIA bloc crossed the 230 mark, posing stiff competition, and defying all predictions.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has secured a third term, but the BJP will need to rely on the support of other parties in his coalition — JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar and TDP’s chief Chandrababu Naidu. The BJP fell 32 seats short of the 272 majority mark after votes polled in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were counted. For the first time, since the Bharatiya Janata Party swept to power in 2014, it did not secure a majority on its own. (ANI)