2004 Orissa Legislative Assembly election
Assembly elections in Odisha, India
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Elections to the Orissa Legislative Assembly were held in April 2004 to elect members of the 147 constituencies in Orissa, India. The Bhartiya Janata Party and Biju Janata Dal fought election together as NDA. The National Democratic Alliance won the most seats and Naveen Patnaik was re-appointed as the Chief Minister of Orissa. The opposition Congress was headed by former CM Janaki Ballabh Pattnaik, who was unsuccessful.[1][2] The number of constituencies was set as 147 by the recommendation of the Delimitation Commission of India.[3]
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20 & 26 April 2004
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All 147 seats in the Orissa Legislative Assembly 74 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Registered | 25,651,989 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Schedule
The schedule of the election was announced by the Election Commission of India on 29 February 2004.[4]
| Poll event[5] | Phase | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | |
| Date of announcement | 29 February 2004 | |
| Notification date | 24 March 2004 | 31 March 2004 |
| Last date for filing nomination | 31 March 2004 | 7 April 2004 |
| Scrutiny of nomination | 2 April 2004 | 8 April 2004 |
| Last date for withdrawal of nomination | 5 April 2004 | 10 April 2004 |
| Date of poll | 20 April 2004 | 26 April 2004 |
| Date of counting of votes | 13 May 2004 | |
| No. of constituencies | 77 | 70 |
Parties and alliances
National Democratic Alliance
Seats where divided in 4:3 ratio.
| Party | Flag | Symbol | Leader | Contesting Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biju Janata Dal |  |
 |
Naveen Patnaik | 84 | |
| Bharatiya Janata Party |  |
 |
Jual Oram | 63 | |
United Progressive Alliance
| Party | Flag | Symbol | Leader | Contesting Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indian National Congress |  |
 |
Janaki Ballabh Patnaik | 133 | |
| Jharkhand Mukti Morcha |  |
 |
Shibu Soren | 12 | |
| Odisha Gana Parishad | - | - | Bijoy Mohapatra | 4 | |
Result
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Popular vote | Seats | ||||||
| Color | Name | Symbol | Votes | % | ±pp | Contested | Won | +/− |
| Indian National Congress | |
5,896,713 | 34.82 |  1.04 |
133 | 38 | 12 | |
| Biju Janata Dal | |
4,632,280 | 27.36 |  2.04 |
84 | 61 | 7 | |
| Bharatiya Janata Party |  |
2,898,105 | 17.11 | 1.09 |
63 | 32 | 6 | |
| Jharkhand Mukti Morcha | |
301,777 | 1.78 | 0.36 |
12 | 4 | 1 | |
| Odisha Gana Parishad | - | 217,998 | 1.20 | (new) | 4 | 2 | (new) | |
| Communist Party of India |  |
129,989 | 0.77 | 0.45 |
6 | 1 |  | |
| Communist Party of India (Marxist) |  |
93,159 | 0.55 | 0.22 |
3 | 1 | | |
| Independents | - | 2,065,650 | 12.20 | 1.54 |
295 | 8 | | |
| Total | - | 100 | - | - | 147 | - | ||
| Valid Votes | 16,933,456 | 66.01 | ||||||
| Invalid Votes | 9,461 | - | ||||||
| Total Votes polled / turnout | 16,942,917 | 66.05 | ||||||
| Abstentation | 8,709,072 | - | ||||||
| Total No. of Electors | 25,651,989 | |||||||
Elected members
Analysis & Govt Formation
Assembly was dissolved early almost a year ahead & election were called in line with 2004 Indian general election. NDA lost the general election but won 2004 Orissa Assembly election. Mr. Patnaik resigned on 15 May 2004 paving way for new govt.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik along with 14 Cabinet Ministers and 7 Minister of State were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor M. M. Rajendran at the Raj Bhavan, Bhubaneswar on 16 May 2004. No. of Ministers for BJD & BJP were divided on 2:1 ratio where BJD had the larger share of representation in the ministry with 14 ministers including the Chief Minister while the BJP had eight.[8][9]