2024 Odisha Legislative Assembly elections were held in the eastern coastal state of Odisha from 13 May to 1 June 2024 to elect the 147 members of the Odisha Legislative Assembly. The votes were counted and results were declared on 4 June 2024, leading to the formation of the 17th Assembly.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 78 seats, securing a simple majority in the assembly and ending the 24-year tenure of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government led by Naveen Patnaik. Following the election, the BJP extended its legislative footprint when all three independent MLAs extended their support to the party. Manmohan Samal, the BJP's state president who steered the party's election campaign in Odisha, was defeated in the Chandabali constituency.
On 12 June 2024, Mohan Charan Majhi, the MLA from Keonjhar, was sworn in as the 15th Chief Minister of Odisha. Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo and Pravati Parida were sworn in concurrently as deputy chief ministers.
Background The tenure of sixteenth Odisha Legislative Assembly was scheduled to end on 24 June 2024. The previous assembly elections were held in April 2019. After the elections, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) formed the state government, with the then incumbent Naveen Patnaik continuing as the Chief Minister.
Schedule The schedule of the election was announced by the Election Commission of India on 16 March 2024. The polling was held in four phases which coincided with the phases 4 to 7 of the simultaneously held Indian General Election.
Poll event Phase 1 2 3 4 Notification date 18 April 26 April 29 April 7 May Last date for filing nomination 25 April 3 May 6 May 14 May Scrutiny of nomination 26 Apr 4 May 7 May 15 May Last date for withdrawal of nomination 29 April 6 May 9 May 17 May Poll 13 May 20 May 25 May 1 June Counting of Votes 4 June 2024
Parties and campaigns + Party Flag Symbol Leader Seats contested Biju Janata Dal Naveen Patnaik 147 Bharatiya Janata Party Manmohan Samal 147 Indian National Congress Sarat Pattanayak 145 Bahujan Samaj Party Tankadhar Bag 88 Aam Aadmi Party Nishikanta Mohapatra 41 Communist Party of India (Marxist) Ali Kishor Patnaik 7 Jharkhand Mukti Morcha 5 The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) contested all 147 assembly constituencies, while the Indian National Congress (INC) fielded candidates in 145 constituencies and supported other parties in the remaining two seats. The BJD's election manifesto included promises relating to youth empowerment, agricultural support, women's economic participation, tribal welfare, infrastructure, sports development, food security and governance reforms. The BJP manifesto proposed measures including the implementation of the "Samruddha Krushak Niti", the "Subhadra Yojana" scheme for women, development of the fishing industry, expansion of road connectivity, employment generation and promotion of tourism.
The role of V. K. Pandian, a former Indian Administrative Service officer and close aide to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, became a subject of political debate during the campaign. After resigning from the civil service in 2023, Pandian joined the BJD and assumed a prominent role in the party's campaign activities. The BJP alleged that the BJD was preparing Pandian as Patnaik's successor and criticised his influence within the government. During the campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleged irregularities relating to the management of the Jagannath Temple's Ratna Bhandar, remarks widely interpreted as targeting Pandian. Pandian rejected the allegations, while Patnaik stated that Pandian was not his political successor.
Candidates Overall 1,283 candidates contested the elections for the 147 seats in the assembly. Out of these, 348 candidates (approximately 27%) had declared criminal cases against themselves and 292 (approximately 23%) had serious criminal cases against themselves. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Odisha Election Watch reported that 66 candidates have declared cases for the crime committed against women, with 4 candidates declaring that they have been charged for rape. In their affidavit filed before elections, 10 candidates have declared that they have cases related to murder. 5 candidates informed in their candidature about cases filed against them related to hate speech. Party-wise, the percentages of candidates with criminal cases are: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have ~68%, Indian National Congress (INC) with ~41%, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) have ~31%, and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is with ~17.
As per the affidavits, 412 (BJD - 128, BJP - 96, INC- 88, AAP - 11, Others - 89) had declared their family's assets to be worth more than and average assets were worth . Highest assets were declared by Dilip Kumar Ray (BJP, Rourkela seat, ) followed by Sanatan Mahakud (BJD, Champua seat, ) and Subasini Jena (BJD, Basta seat, ). Education wise, 652 candidates (approximately 51%) had education of graduate or above and only 2 were illiterate. 51 candidates had diplomas and 566 contestants had studied classes from 5th to 12th. Only 14% of candidates (i.e. 178) were women. BJD had been the strong supporter of the Women's Reservation Bill, 2023 and had nominated 34 women candidates (approximately 23%) out of 147 and majority of these were from political families. BJP provided tickets to 10 women candidates.