June 5, 22:37 (IST)
Odisha Elections: Mother and son, couple, children of former chief minister face defeat in Odisha elections
Politicians and their families suffered setbacks in the simultaneous elections to the Odisha Lok Sabha and state assembly, the results of which were declared on Tuesday. Influential BJD leader Pranab Prakash Das and his mother, minister Sudam Marundi and his wife, and the children of two former BJP chief ministers were among those who lost the elections.
Pranab, who is BJD organisational secretary, lost to Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in Sambalpur Assembly constituency by a margin of 1,19,836 votes.
Pranab’s mother Sandhyarani also lost the Korai assembly election to her nearest rival, Akash Das Nayak of the Bharatiya Janata Party, by 5,646 votes.
Similarly, Sudam Marundi, who was a minister in the Naveen Patnaik cabinet, also lost in the Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha seat. BJP candidate Naba Charan Majhi won the Mayurbhanj seat with a margin of 2,19,334 votes.
The BJD has nominated Sudam Marundi’s wife Ranjita Marundi to replace him in the Bangliposhi constituency, where she lost the seat to BJP candidate Sanjali Murmu.
Prutibi Ballav Patnaik, son of late former Chief Minister JB Patnaik, is contesting from the Begunia Assembly constituency as a member of the Congress Party.
However, he lost his seat and finished third, securing just 18,144 votes – 72,820 less than the winning BJD candidate.
The BJP retained its second place in the Begunia assembly constituency, which Purthvi’s father had previously elected once before, in 1995 (in a by-election) and 2004.
