Odisha saw 'split voting' phenomena for the first time

BHUBANESWAR, dhns: At many places in Odisha, people voted differently while selecting their representatives for Lok Sabha and the state Assembly, a post-election results analysis revealed.

This has resulted in split outcomes — the ruling BJD performing splendidly by capturing as many as 112 out of 146 Assembly constituencies but failing to repeat its 2014 Lok Sabha polls performance. The regional outfit could win 12 out of 21 Lok Sabha seat this time compared to 20 in 2014.

Similarly, the BJP, which has emerged as the principal Opposition party in the state pushing the Congress to the third spot, had a dismal performance so far as capturing Assembly seats are concerned but had a fairly good show in the contest for lower house berths.

The saffron party had won 10 Assembly seats in 2014 and it went up to only 23 this time. It was expected to do much better. Nevertheless, the party managed to pocket as many as eight Lok Sabha seats this time compared to only one during the last general elections. Odisha witnessed the phenomenon of “split voting” for the first time in its election history.

The pattern of split voting was best displayed in the prestigious Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha constituency and the seven Assembly segments under it. The politically important coastal Parliament seat, which was considered a stronghold of the ruling BJD, voted in BJP’s favour this time. The saffron nominee, former IAS officer Aparajita Sarangi, defeated the regional outfit’s Arup Patnaik, retired IPS officer and former Mumbai police commissioner, by a margin of a little over 30,000 votes.

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However, not a single Assembly segment under the Lok Sabha seat voted for the BJP. While six of the seven Assembly constituencies — Bhubaneswar-Central, Bhubaneswar-north, Ekamra Bhubaneswar, Jayadev, Khurda and Begunia — favoured the BJD, one seat, Jatni, elected a Congress nominee. The BJD had been consecutively winning the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat since 1998.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik who heads the BJD conceded in a post-results interview that split voting did occur if not entirely but to some extent. “A Modi wave was on across the country and Odisha was no exception so far as Parliament seats are concerned”, he said.