BJD Keeps Vote Bank Intact Despite Anti Incumbency

Bhubaneswar: Anti-incumbency failed to deter BJD from winning the polls as the party managed to keep its vote base intact. Statistics showed BJD which returned to power for the record fifth term of increasing its vote share in assembly constituencies.

While the BJD had a vote share of 43.4 percent during 2014 polls, the vote share increased marginally to 44.71 percent for assembly this year. BJD had won 117 assembly seats in 2014 and the number of seats stood at 112 this time. The party for the first time got more than 1 crore popular votes in the assembly constituencies.

However, the vote share for parliamentary constituencies of BJD dipped to 42.76 percent this year against 44.10 percent in 2014. BJD had won as many as 2o Lok Sabha seats in 2014 while the number decreased to 12 this year.

One of the reasons behind Naveen Patnaik managing to keep the vote bank intact is the extensive campaign by the Chief Minister himself. Patnaik not only addressed public rallies but also covered several areas in a specially designed hi-tech bus.

Patnaik and BJD also managed to thwart the negative propaganda about the health of the chief minister. As soon as rumours of his bad health started doing the rounds, the ruling party came up with a fitness video of Patnaik which became a sensation in social media.

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