"People have made up their minds to make Narendra Modi PM for third time," says Ashwini Vaishnav

While speaking with ANI, he said, "The people have made up their minds to make PM Narendra Modi the Prime Minister for the third time with a thumping majority. All the party workers, leaders and people will work hard to fulfil the dream of Viksit Bharat."

Jual Oram also expressed confidence in winning the elections and said, "The campaign response was very good and we will win all the seven seats in the state."

Meanwhile, the Union Minister on this occasion received immense support from thousands of people. A crowd of thousands of people welcomed Vaishnav.

It is noteworthy that Vaishnav has worked as a District Magistrate in this parliamentary constituency. At that time, Jual Oram was the MLA of Bonai. As District Magistrate, Vaishnav had done work in the fields of public distribution systems, road infrastructure etc.

The assembly and Lok Sabha polls in the BJD-ruled state are being held across four phases--from May 13 to June 1. The counting of votes will be held on June 4.

Polling for the first phase was conducted in 28 Assembly seats and four Lok Sabha constituencies on May 13. In the fifth phase, 35 Assembly seats and five Lok Sabha constituencies will vote on May 20, 42 Assembly segments and six Lok Sabha seats on May 25 and the remaining 42 Assembly seats and six Lok Sabha constituencies in the last phase on June 1.

In the last assembly elections in 2019, the BJD won 112 out of 146 seats, while the BJP had to settle for just 23 seats and the Congress finished at 9.

In the Lok Sabha elections in the same year, the BJD mopped up the lion's share of the electoral spoils, with the BJP and the Congress bringing up the rear. The BJD won 12 seats, the BJP finished a close second at 8, and the Congress bagged just a lone seat. (ANI)