In Gajapati district, the Parlakhemundi Assembly seat was wrested by the BJP from the Congress while in Mohana, the Congress snatched the seat from the BJD.
In Parlakhemundi, BJP candidate J Narayan Rao beat his nearest Independent rival Tirupati Panigrahi, who was a Congress rebel. Here, the BJD had made Parala Princess Kalyani Devi its candidate.
Though Parlakhemundi was a Congress bastion, the party candidate J Suriya Rao lost it due to rebel Panigrahi dividing the party votes. In Mohana, Congress candidate Dasarathi Gamang defeated BJD’s Purnabasi Nayak.
