The Congress gets only five seats out of the 21 for which trends were available
The BJD-BJP combine was ahead in 16 seats, leaving only five to the Congress, in the 21 Lok Sabha constituencies in Orissa for which trends were available. The BJD, which had set up its candidates in 12 seats, was ahead in 10 of them. Its electoral ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party was leading in six.
Candidates of the Congress, which had two seats in the dissolved Lok Sabha, were ahead in five seats -- Berhampur, Koraput (ST), Kalahandi, Sambalpur and Sundargarh (ST). Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Jual Oram was trailing behind his Congress rival Frida Topno in the Sundargarh (ST) seat while the BJD candidates and Union Ministers Arjun Charan Sethi and Braja Kishore Tripathy were leading in Bhadrak (SC) and Puri constituencies respectively.
Former Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang was leading against his nearest BJD rival and former judge of Orissa High Court Mutika Papanna in the Koraput (ST) seat.
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