Naveen Patnaik resigns as Odisha CM after electoral defeat, 24-year rule ends

NEW DELHI: After suffering a massive defeat in the State assembly and Parliamentary elections, the 24-year-long tenure of Odisha chief minister and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik has ended. Patnaik submitted his resignation to Odisha governor Raghubar Das at the Raj Bhavan in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday.

The Biju Janata Dal, which has governed Odisha since 1997, lost to the BJP, ending Naveen Patnaik's long reign as chief minister. In the 147-seat assembly, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured 78 seats, while the BJD won 51 seats, falling well short of the 74-seat majority mark. The Indian National Congress secured only 14 seats, and CPI (M) secured one, while three Independent candidates also emerged victorious.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as well, the BJP performed strongly in Odisha, winning 20 out of the state's 21 parliamentary seats. The remaining seat was won by the Congress.

Naveen Patnaik made an unexpected entry into state politics through the BJD, a party named after his father, former Odisha CM Biju Patnaik. His political career began with a victory in the 1998 Lok Sabha bypoll, representing his father's constituency of Aska. Following the BJD's success in the 2000 Assembly elections, where they formed a coalition with the BJP and gained a majority, Patnaik resigned from his position in the Union cabinet to become Chief Minister.

Since then, Patnaik had been the second longest-serving chief minister in India, after former Sikkim CM Pawan Kumar Chamling.

Patnaik had for the first time taken oath as the chief minister of Odisha on March 5, 2000.


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