The 2009 Odisha Legislative Assembly election took place in April 2009, concurrently with the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

. The elections were held in the state in two phases. The results were declared on 16 May. Despite having recently separated from the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

after an eleven-year partnership, the

Biju Janata Dal The Biju Janata Dal (; BJD) is a regional political party in the Indian state of Odisha founded and led by Naveen Patnaik, the current Chief Minister of Odisha and the son of former Chief Minister of Odisha Biju Patnaik, after whom the party i ...

(BJD) retained power in the Odisha State Assembly with a more convincing majority. Party chief

Naveen Patnaik Naveen Patnaik (born 16 October 1946) is an Indian politician serving as the current and 14th Chief Minister of Odisha. He is also the president of the Biju Janata Dal, a writer and has authored three books. He is the longest-serving chief min ...

was formally re-elected as the BJD Legislature party leader on 19 May, thus paving the way for his third consecutive term as the

Chief Minister of Odisha The chief minister of Odisha, an Indian state, is the head of the Government of Odisha. As per the Constitution of India, the governor is the state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Followin ...

Previous Assembly

In the 2004 Orissa Assembly election, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had swept the state with the BJD winning 61 seats and the

(BJP) winning 32 seats, giving the alliance comfortable majority in the 147-member house. This was the second consecutive term for the BJD-BJP combine after they first formed the government in 2000. The Naveen Patnaik government had been sworn in at the

Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar (; ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. The region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Ekamra Kshetra'' (area (''kshetra'') adorned with mango trees (''ekamra'')). Bhubaneswar is ...

Raj Bhavan by Odisha Governor M. M. Rajendran in May 2004.

Background

With the tenure of the Orissa Assembly scheduled to expire on 29 June 2009, the

Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body. It was established by the Constitution of India to conduct and regulate elections in the country. Article 324 of the Constitution provides that the power of superintendence, di ...

announced on 2 March that year that the elections to the Assembly would be held alongside the

. The election in each Assembly constituency (AC) was held in the same phase as the election to the corresponding Parliamentary constituency that the AC fell under. Seat-sharing discussions got underway between allies, after eleven years of partnership and nearly two full terms as the Orissa state government, the BJD snapped ties with the BJP in March 2009, blaming the latter for the 2008 violence against Christians. Thereafter, the BJP withdrew support to Government and Governor Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare asked Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to prove his majority in the Orissa Assembly. Naveen Patnaik then won a controversial trust vote on 11 May 2009, after the opposition Congress and BJP legislators walked out of the Assembly in protest in the manner the vote was being conducted. The BJD then declared that they support neither

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

nor BJP. Though they decided to contest the 2009 elections in partnership with the Left Front and

Nationalist Congress Party The Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) is one of the nine national parties in India. The party generally supports Indian nationalism and Gandhian secularism. It is the largest opposition party in Maharashtra and is also a significant party in ...

, the BJD did not officially join the Third Front.

Schedule of election

Results

Government formation

Despite fighting against both BJP &

, the BJD emerged victorious with more than two-thirds majority in the 147 member Legislative Assembly. Naveen Patnaik was sworn in for his third consecutive term by

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

M.C. Bhandare on 2009-05-21 at the Bhubaneswar Raj Bhavan.

Number of seats

Number of candidates

Elected members

References

{{Odisha elections State Assembly elections in Odisha 2009 State Assembly elections in India 2000s in Orissa