BJD’s Debasis Samantaray and Pravat Biswal congratulate each other and (above) a victory procession of the party in Cuttack. Pictures by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, May 16: In a verdict that disproved speculations, the BJD overcame a purported Narendra Modi wave and made a clean sweep of all the nine Assembly seats in Cuttack district, including Barabati Cuttack and Choudwar Cuttack.

With the BJD candidates riding the crest of a “Naveen wave”, both the Congress and the BJP could not bag a single seat in tandem with the poor performance of the two national parties in rest of the state.

The BJD won all the nine seats, repeating its performance in 2009. “We failed to cash in on the Narendra Modi wave that swept almost the entire country,” conceded Nayan Kishore Mohanty, BJP’s state general secretary.

A strategy based on vitriolic attack against the BJD government’s style of functioning, both by the Congress and the BJP, failed to work. The BJP even failed to regain its bastion — Cuttack city now Barabati Cuttack — till 2004.

Debashis Samantaray retained Barabati Cuttack for the BJD, recording his second consecutive victory. He defeated City Congress president Mohammed Moquim by a margin of over 14,000 votes. Samantaray bagged 57,589 votes as against 43,309 of Moquim. BJP’s Pradip Swain got 20,544 votes.

“It was inspiring leadership of Naveen Patnaik that made all the difference. His clean image carried the day giving a edge to party candidates over rivals,” said BJD’s general secretary Subash Singh. Four of the seats in the district had caught attention as BJD minister Debi Prasad Mishra and BJD chief whip Pravata Kumar Tripathy were seeking re-election from Baramba and Banki. Besides, BJD state general secretary Nayan Kishore Mohanty and Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Suresh Mohapatra were contesting from Choudwar Cuttack.

BJP’s Mohanty, who was contesting from the Cuttack Choudwar seat, ended up third with 24,630 votes, while BJD’s Biswal notched a hat trick win from the seat polling 70,805 votes. He defeated Pradesh Congress Committee secretary Suresh Mohapatra by a margin of over 41,000 votes.

“Pace of all-round progress and developments initiated in the past five years under the Naveen Patnaik government paid the rich dividends,” Biswal said.

BJD chief whip Pravata Kumar Tripathy retained Banki, defeating his nearest Congress rival Rabindra Kumar Mallick by 43,758 votes.

BJD leader and agriculture minister Debi Prasad Mishra won Baramba, while his nearest rival Laxmi Devi of the Congress trailed by over 32,000 votes.

BJD firebrand leader Ranendra Pratap Swain won from neighbouring Athagarh — his bastion. He retained the seat by winning for the sixth time, defeating his nearest Congress rival Bichitrananda Muduli by over 46,000 votes.

One-time MLA Chandrasarathi Behera retained the Cuttack Sadar seat for the BJD by defeating BJP’s Dillip Mallick by over 15,000 votes. Former minister Pratap Jena was re-elected from Mahanga. He defeated his nearest rival Sarada Prasad Padhan, an Independent candidate, by over 9,000 votes. BJD’s sitting Niali MLA Pramod Kumar Mallick was re-elected from the reserved seat. He defeated the Congress’s Chhabi Malik by over 20,000 votes.

Pradesh Congress Committee’s Cuttack district Prakash Behera was defeated in Salipur. Debutant Prasant Behera of the BJD defeated him by over 2,000 votes.

BJD candidate Bhartruhari Mahtab from the Cuttack parliamentary constituency has won the election for the fifth consecutive time. He defeated his Congress rival Aparajita Mohanty, a popular Odia cine star, by over two lakh votes.

In 1998, when Mahtab pulled off a victory and went on to win the seat in the two successive elections in 1999 and 2004, his victory was widely credited to the combined strength of the BJD-BJP alliance. But in 2004, he won with a handsome margin, when the BJD decided to go it alone.

And this time, he has again retained the seat for the BJD, proving that there was no effect of the Narendra Modi wave against the hold of Naveen Patnaik over the voters in the parliamentary constituency, which is dominated by rural population.

“I thank all the voters for the victory of the BJD. The victory confirms that people have reposed faith and confidence in me for the work done as their representative in the parliament and my party, its leader Naveen Patnaik and work done by his government,” Bhartruhari Mahtab told The Telegraph.

“This time, it will be a new challenge in the 16th Lok Sabha, as it has a robust mandate in the treasury bench after 30 years. Our BJD will cast its new role in this changed circumstance for the interest of Odisha,” Mahtab said. The Congress had last won from the seat in October 1996 by elections with Anadi Sahu as the candidate.

Mahtab, son of former chief minister Harekrushna Mahtab, earlier in 2004 Lok Sabha election had bagged 4.96 lakh votes and his rival Congress candidate Jayanti Patnaik (wife of former chief minister J.B. Patnaik) 3.23 lakh. In 1999, he defeated veteran Congress leader and former Union minister Kanhu Charan Lenka by over two lakh votes. In 2004, he increased his victory margin to 2.37 lakh. In Barabati Cuttack Assembly segment, Mahtab polled 61,300-odd votes. He got 53,600-odd votes in Choudwar Cuttack.