Bhubaneswar: Even as the voter turnout in the four Lok Sabha and 28 Assembly seats in south Odisha which went for polls Monday showed a marginal increase as compared to the 2019 elections, both BJD and BJP Tuesday exuded confidence in bettering their past performances. While these Assembly and Lok Sabha segments had witnessed an average voter turnout of 74.18 per cent in 2019, this time (till 00.30 am Wednesday) they recorded 75.68 per cent polling. BJD leader Kartik Pandian Tuesday claimed that the regional party will secure at least 24 of the 28 Assembly seats in the phase I elections. “BJD is sweeping the elections whether it is first, second, third or fourth phase.
In the first phase, BJD is winning a minimum of 24 out of 28 seats,” Pandian said. The regional party in 2019 had won 20 of the 28 Assembly seats while BJP got 4 Assembly seats, followed by Congress 3 and an Independent.
However, Pandian did not give any figures on the Lok Sabha seats. “I will not speak on Lok Sabha results. It is a big thing. However, we will perform better than 2019,” he said. Pandian claimed that there was a Naveen Patnaik wave this time. BJP Odisha election In-charge Vijaypal Singh Tomar Tuesday claimed that his party will win all four Lok Sabha constituencies and 18 out of 28 Assembly seats that went to polls in the first round of voting in the state May 13.
Asserting that the saffron party will form the government in Odisha, Tomar said BJP will win at least 16 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha. It is worth mentioning that the highest voter turnout of 82.16 per cent was recorded in the tribal-dominated Nabarangpur Parliamentary seat, followed by Koraput (77.53 per cent), Kalahandi (77.90 per cent) and Berhampur (65.41 per cent). In 2019 elections, in the first phase, the same four Lok Sabha and 28 Assembly seats had witnessed high polling of over 74 per cent. Berhampur Lok Sabha constituency also recorded the lowest turnout of 65.89 per cent then.