Kendrapara, May 17: The Congress jinx continues in the Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat. With the BJD recording a thumping victory margin, the politically sensitive parliamentary constituency has maintained its anti-Congress character.

The Lok Sabha seat lays claim to fame for being an anti-Congress bastion. Since the first general election in 1952, the Congress has been on a successive losing streak from this seat.

In the first general election, the grand old party had tasted electoral success, and that was its first and last.

BJD candidate Baijayant Panda got re-elected from the seat defeating congress rival Dharanidhar Nayak by 2,09,108.

The voters have rejected Congress candidates 15 times of 16 Lok Sabha elections. Despite orchestrated effort, the party failed to break the jinx in Kendrapara this time.

Veteran Congress leader Nityananda Kanungo won the first general election from the seat in 1952.

“Modi magic did not cast its spell here. It is the victory of Naveen Patnaik. Voters of Kendrapada have ample faith on the chief minister,” said a delighted BJD district wing vice-president Gourahari Pati.

Prominent among the losers from the seat in the past elections from the Congress are, former cabinet ministers — Bhagabat Prasad Mohanty, Basanta Biswal, writer Surendra Mohanty, women leader Archana Nayak and former minister Batakrushna Jena.

On the other hand, the prominent anti-Congress leaders, who had been elected from the seat, are former chief minister and central cabinet minister Biju Patnaik, socialist leader Surendranath Divedi, former Lok Sabha speaker Rabi Ray, Pravat Samantray and the former cabinet minister Srikant Jena.

In the 7th general election of 1980, when the pro-Congress wave swept the state, the electorate in Kendrapada resisted it and returned an Opposition candidate, Biju Patnaik.

The resilience was evident in the elections of 1984. The sympathy wave for Rajiv Gandhi, following the death of Indira Gandhi — which led the Congress to a landslide victory — failed to shake off the anti-Congress attitude of the people here and again Biju had been elected from Kendrapada. Of 21 seats, the Congress had won 20 seats barring Kendrapada in 7th and 8th Lok Sabha elections.

The seeds of anti-Congressism were sown in 1960s by the Praja Socialist Party (PSP). The PSP was turned into a sturdy fighting unit by veteran socialist, Surendranath Dwivedy. The party was able to move deep into the masses. Dwivedy was elected thrice from the constituency, said a political analyst.

After the PSP withered away, its activists joined anti-Congress outfits. Since then, the anti-Congressism has held sway among the people at least in the Lok Sabha polls.