New Delhi:
The saffron storm, which swept parts of neighbouring West Bengal, also cut a swathe through Odisha, with the BJP bagging eight of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The ruling BJD's tally nose-dived from 20 to 12, while the Congress managed to bag just one seat. Propelled by the Modi wave, the vote share of the saffron party grew from 21.88 per cent in 2014 to 38.4 per cent, while that of BJD dropped to 42.8 per cent from 44.77 per cent.
For the first time since its inception, the BJD saw its Lok Sabha tally slide down. The party had won nine seats in 12th Lok Sabha in 1998, which rose to 10 in 1999 and 11 in 2004. After the party snapped ties with the BJP, ahead of 2009 elections, the regional party won 14 seats in the polls, while the saffron party had to eat a humble pie.
In 2014, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) put up a spectacular show, grabbing a lion's share of 20 Lok Sabha seats, while the BJP had to make do with just one constituency. Prominent among the BJP winners this time are Union minister Jual Oram, BJP national secretary Suresh Pujari, BJP state president Basant Panda, firebrand leader Pratap Sarangi and former bureaucrat Aparajita Sarangi.
Amid joyous scenes in the BJP camp, the defeat of two high-profile candidates, however, put the party in a spot. While BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda lost the Kendrapara seat to BJD candidate and Rajya Sabha MP Anubhav Mohanty, national spokesperson of the saffron party Sambit Patra failed to wrest the Puri Lok Sabha seat from Pinaki Mishra of the BJD.
Panda, who was elected from Kendrapara in 2014 polls as a BJD candidate, had resigned from the regional party and the Lok Sabha membership last year, following differences with the senior leaders. Union minister Jual Oram saved the day for the saffron party by retaining the Sundargarh (ST) seat. He defeated his nearest rival and BJD nominee Sunita Biswal by a comfortable margin of 2,23,065 votes.
| Sl | Constituency | Name of the Candidate | Party | Status | Votes |
| 01 | Aska | Pramila Bisoyi | Biju Janata Dal | Won | 204707 |
| 02 | Balasore | Pratap Chandra Sarangi | BJP | Won | 12956 |
| 03 | Bargarh | Suresh Pujair | BJP | Won | 63939 |
| 04 |
Berhampur |
Chandra Shekhar Sahu | Biju Janata Dal | Won | 94844 |
| 05 | Bhadrak | Manjulata Mandal | Biju Janata Dal | Won | 28803 |
| 06 | Bhubaneswar | Aprajita Sarangi | BJP | Won | 23839 |
| 07 | Bolangir | Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo | BJP | Won | 19516 |
| 08 | Cuttack | Bhartruhari Mehtab | Biju Janata Dal | Won | 121201 |
| 09 | Dhenkanal | Mahesh Sahoo | Biju Janata Dal | Won | 35412 |
| 10 | Jagatsinghpur | Rajashree Mallick | Biju Janata Dal | Won | 271655 |
| 11 | Jajpur | Sarmishtha Sethi | Biju Janata Dal | Won | 101693 |
| 12 | Kalahandi | Basanta Kumar Panda | BJP | Won | 26814 |
| 13 | Kandhamal | Achyutananda Samanta | Biju Janata Dal | Won | 149216 |
| 14 | Kendrapara | Anubhav Mohanty | Biju Janata Dal | Won | 152584 |
| 15 | Keonjhar | Chandrani Murmu | Biju Janata Dal | Won | 66203 |
| 16 | Koraput | Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka | Congress | Won | 3613 |
| 17 | Mayurbhanj |
Bishwewar Tudu | BJP | Won | 25256 |
| 18 | Nabarangpur | Ramesh Chandra Majhi | Biju Janata Dal | Won | 42900 |
| 19 | Puri | Pinaki Mishra | Biju Janata Dal | Won | 11714 |
| 20 | Sambalpur | Nitesh Ganga Deb | BJP | Won | 9162 |
| 21 | Sundargarh | Jual Oram | BJP | Won | 223065 |
