Balasore: The BJP wrested Balasore parliamentary seat after a wait of two decades with firebrand saffron leader Pratap Chandra Sarangi being elected MP this time. Notably, BJP’s Kharavel Swain had won the seat thrice in a row earlier.
Swain was last elected as MP in 2004 while Congress leader Srikant Jena was elected here in 2009. BJD’s Rabindra Jena had represented the seat in 2014. Jena had won the seat by defeating Sarangi by a margin of 1.42 lakh votes. However, the BJD leader, who was said to be invincible, bit the dust before the bearded and bespectacled saffron leader — former Nilagiri MLA Pratap Chandra Sarangi.
Of eight Assembly seats in Balasore, the BJP has managed to win in two seats.
Sarangi gave a tough fight to the Biju Janata Dal candidate and sitting MP Rabindra Kumar Jena and defeated him by a margin 1,2956 votes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had campaigned in Balasore for Sarangi.
Sarangi polled 4,83,858 votes while Jena had got 4,70,902 votes. There were 12 candidates in the fray. As for Assembly seats, BJD’s Aswini Kumar Patra won in Jaleswar; Ananta Das in Bhograi; Nityananda Sahu in Basta; Sudhansu Shekhar Parida in Remuna; Parsuram Dhada in Soro and Jyotiprakash Panigrahy in Simulia.
However, BJP’s Madanmohan Datt won in Balasore sadar and Sukant Kumar Nayak in Nilagiri.
PNN