(Clockwise from top) Dillip Tirkey, Arka Keshari Deo, Jhina Hikaka and Rabindra Kumar Jena

Bhubaneswar, May 16: The BJD is heading for a spectacular performance in the Lok Sabha elections with the party leading in 19 of 21 parliamentary seats in the state.

Though the BJP swept the polls across the nation, its performance was not encouraging here with the party leading only in two seats. The Congress, which won six seats in 2009, is heading for a disastrous show by not being able to win even a single seat. It will be for the first time that the Congress will have no representation in the Lok Sabha from the state. In 1980, the Congress won 20 seats and conceded one seat to Biju Patnaik.

According to result trends, the BJD is leading in Aska, Berhampur, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Sambalpur, Balangir, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Puri. Party’s nominee Rama Chandra Hansdah has been declared winner from the Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha seat.

In 2009, the BJD won 14 parliamentary seats and left one seat (Jagatsinghpur) to its ally CPI. As things stand, the BJD is set to improve its tally. Besides, it is poised to wrest Sundargarh, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Kalahandi, Nabarangpur and Balasore seats from the Congress.

Tactically, Naveen had changed candidates and nominated fresh faces in all the above seats. He had chosen Arka Keshari Deo, a scion of the erstwhile Kalahandi royal family for the Kalahandi seat, to take on Congress veteran Bhakta Charan Das. He had fielded former Hockey India captain and Rajya Sabha member Dillip Tirkey against former chief minister Hemananda Biswal in Sundargarh.

Naveen also picked up Lakshmipur MLA Jhina Hikaka to lock horns with former chief minister Giridhar Gamang from Koraput.

The party had also pitted former industrialist Rabindra Kumar Jena, against Union minister Srikant Jena from Balasore. Retired railway engineer Balabhadra Majhi and retired museum curator Pradhas Kumar Singh were BJD’s nominees for Nabarangpur and Bargarh, respectively.

While Nityananda Pradhan was replaced by former Aska MLA Ladu Kishore Swain, Rudramadhab Ray was substituted by Hemendra Chandra Singh, a scion of the erstwhile Nayagarh royal family. Similarly, the party put up Rita Tarai, a new face in place of Mohan Jena in Jajpur and replaced Yashabant Narayan Singh Laguri with his wife Sakuntala.

In Mayurbhanj, sitting MP Lakshman Tudu was substituted by party MLA Rama Chandra Hansdah. Party sources said the strategy paid dividends with the party managing to retain all these seats.

The Congress is going to face rout with its party veterans, including Giridhar Gamang and Hemananda Biswal, Srikant Jena and outgoing MPs Bhakta Charan Das, Pradeep Majhi, Amarnath Pradhan and Sanjay Bhoi, trailing behind.

BJP’s Subhash Chouhan may throw a surprise as he has been maintaining lead in the Bargarh seat, while its national vice-president Jual Oram is leading by a slender margin.

However, senior leaders such as Sangeeta Singh Deo (wife of BJP state president K.V. Singh Deo and three-time MP), Suresh Pujari (former state president), Rama Chandra Panda (former deputy speaker of the Assembly), Samir Dey and Pradipta Kumar Nayak (both former ministers), Rudra Narayan Pany and Ananta Nayak (former MPs) and Pratap Chandra Sarangi (outgoing MLA) are trailing behind.