Biju Janata Dal

Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has unparalleled influence in Odisha where it has been in power for a whopping 23 years.

Patnaik recently became the second longest-serving chief minister in the country (after Pawan Kumar Chamling, who served as the CM of Sikkim for 24 years) and the top slot is also within reach as a sixth term seems very much a possibility.

In the 2019 state polls, the party secured 112 of the 147 seats, a slight drop from the 117 seats it won in 2014. The vote percentage of the party, however, has steadily increased since 2000. In the last assembly polls, the BJD secured 45% of all votes cast.

The BJD, however, is very much a regional party and has little to no presence in other states or national politics.

In the Lok Sabha elections, the party has managed to win a majority of the seats in Odisha but has been fast losing ground to the BJP. In 2019, the BJD won 12 of the 21 seats, whereas in 2014 it had won 20 out of 21 seats.

Secure in his own state, Patnaik has not made any overt indication of support either to the NDA or the INDIA in the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

However, when various opposition parties boycotted the inauguration of the new Parliament building, Patnaik was among the few non-NDA members to attend the event. The BJD has 9 seats in the Upper House.