Bhubaneswar, May 16 (Inditop) Orissa’s ruling Biju Janata Dal was ahead of its rivals Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress in the early hours as the counting for the state’s 21 Lok Sabha and 147 assembly seats began Saturday, officials said.
While the BJD was leading in 54 of the state’s 147 assembly seats, the Congress and the BJP were ahead in six and five constituencies respectively. Similarly, BJD was leading in four Lok Sabha seats, officials said.
Elections for both the Lok Sabha and the state assembly were held simultaneously in two phases April 16 and April 23.
BJD head and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and several of his ministers are testing their luck in the assembly elections.
The prominent candidates for the Lok Sabha polls include former union minister Jual Oram of the BJP, former chief ministers Giridhar Gomang and Hemananda Biswal of the Congress.
