Odisha Election Results: The 'Giant Killer' BJP Leader Who Defeated CM Naveen Patnaik
Laxman Bag won the constituency by 16,344 votes in a massive upset for the CM who fought the elections from two seats.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's victory in Odisha assembly elections has come with a sweetener—defeating the five-term Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on his own turf. The party's Laxman Bag won the Kantabanji assembly seat in Bolangir district in contest with Patnaik, emerging as the 'giant killer' in this election.
The 48-year-old won the constituency by 16,344 votes in a massive upset for the CM who fought the elections from two seats. Patnaik won the Hinjili seat by 4,636 votes. This was Patnaik's first electoral defeat after entering public life as the MP of Aska in 1998.
"I thank the people of Kantabanji for preferring me over Naveen Patnaik. I will try to meet the aspirations of the people," Bag said. "Maybe he is the CM, but I had confidence in my people. I fought with full dedication to win and that has happened," he added. Bag said that for him the biggest issue was the lack of employment in the area which was forcing people to migrate elsewhere.
He mentioned in his election declaration that he had passed matriculation and identified himself as a farmer. He had 12 criminal charges against him. In the previous election, Bag was narrowly defeated by Santosh Singh Saluja of the Congress by a small margin of 128 votes in Kantabaji.
Patnaik, who first assumed office on March 5, 2000, tendered his resignation today, following his party's decisive defeat in the state assembly elections.
The Bharatiya Janata Party ended the Biju Janata Dal's longstanding dominance, securing 78 out of the state's 147 assembly seats and claiming 20 out of 21 Lok Sabha seats. The BJD, left with just 51 assembly seats and facing a complete wipeout in the Lok Sabha polls, is now grappling with its most significant setback in decades.
This electoral loss also thwarted Patnaik's chance to become India's longest-serving chief minister, missing the record set by former Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling by just 74 days.
