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

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

. 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 List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

after an eleven-year partnership, the

Biju Janata Dal The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is an Indian regional political party with significant influence in the state of Odisha. The party was established to uphold the legacy of former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik and to address the unique socio-economic ...

(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 and writer, who served as the 14th List of Chief Ministers of Odisha, Chief Minister of Odisha from 5 March 2000 to 12 June 2024. His 24-year reign is the List of longest-serving I ...

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.

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 the largest city of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Odisha. It is located in the Khordha district. The suburban region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Chakra ...

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 established by Constitution of India, the Constitution of the Republic of India empowered to conduct free and fair elections in the Republic of India. It is headed by a Chief Ele ...

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 March 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 ...

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

Nationalist Congress Party The Nationalist Congress Party is one of the List of political parties in India#State parties, state parties in India and is one of the major political parties in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Maharashtra with a recognised state party statu ...

, the BJD did not officially join the Third Front.

Schedule of election

Number of candidates

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 politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

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

Number of seats

Elected members

References

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