Party bosses suffer defeats in Odisha Assembly polls

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Assembly elections witnessed presidents of three major political parties facing defeats. The BJD supremo, Naveen Patnaik, and BJP and Congress State presidents, Manmohan Samal and Sarat Pattanayak, respectively, had to suffer defeats.

Although Naveen won from his traditional Hinjili Assembly seat in Ganjam district by a slender margin of 4,636 votes, the five-term CM had to suffer a humiliating defeat to a political novice in Kantabanji constituency in Bolangir.

Naveen lost to BJP's Laxman Bag by 16,344 votes in Kantabanji. This was the first time that Naveen faced electoral defeat in his political career spanning 26 years.

The BJP’s State unit president Manmohan Samal suffered defeat in Chandbali segment to BJD's Byomakesh Ray by a margin of 1,916 votes. OPCC president Sarat Pattanayak suffered a worse fate as he finished fourth in Nuapada Assembly segment, bagging only 15,501 votes.