The 2024 elections in Odisha witnessed the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) bastion crumbling with its 11 Ministers biting the dust this time.
Ahead of the crucial polls, the ruling BJD had roped in 18 out of 19 ministers to contest the 2024 elections. However, 11 of the heavyweights lost and failed to save image of BJD which has now been dethroned from the power after 24 years.
State Cabinet Ministers, MoS Who Lost In Odisha Elections 2024 Ashok Chandra Panda Bikram Keshari Arukha Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak Pradip Amat Jagannath Saraka Prafula Mallick Sudam Marndi Tukuni Sahu Basanti Hembrum (MoS) Pritiranjan Ghadei (MoS) Rita Sahu (MoS)
However, cabinet ministers in previous Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government- Pratap Deb, Ranendra Pratap Swain, Rajendra Dholakia, Sarada Nayak and MoS Tushar Kanti Behera have been able to save to their own fort. BJD this time had not given ticket to cabinet minister Usha Devi and instead roped in her son Srirup Deb. However, he also got defeated.
Though Odisha Assembly Speaker Pramila Mallik has won, Deputy Speaker Saluga Pradhan has been defeated by the BJP. In the crucial 2024 elections, as many as 61 MLAs of the BJD and the Congress have been defeated.
The BJD heavyweights who lost in the 2024 elections include- Jagannath Nayak, Pranab Balabantray, Nrusingha Sahu, Rohit Pujari, Bishnubrat Routray, Devesh Acharya, Snehangini Chhuria, Dipali Das, Alaka Mohanty, Sananda Marndi, Swarup Das, Mukesh Pal, Sushanta Singh, Prabhu Jani, Padmanabha Behera, Mahidhar Rana, Subhash Chandra Behera, Bikram Panda, Srikant Sahu, Debi Mishra, Chandra Sarathi Behera, Pramod Malick, Rudra Pratap Maharathy, Umakant Samantray, Latika Pradhan, Suryamani Baidya and Satyanarayan Pradhan.
BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik, who had contested from two assembly seats, also got defeated from the Kantabanji seat. However, he won from Hinjili Assembly constituency.