The Biju Janata Dal- Bharatiya Janata Party combine was inching towards a majority in the Orissa assembly, establishing leads in 78 of the 147 seats in the House, though the Congress-led alliance did better than in earlier elections.
The Congress and its allies, the Orissa Gana Parishad, the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha were ahead in 58 seats, according to trends available till 1200 IST.
BJD candidates were leading in 51 seats while its electoral ally, the BJP, was ahead in 27. Early trends indicated that the BJD-BJP combine was conceding substantial ground to the Congress-led alliance in the state.
Congress candidates led in 49 constituencies, while its allies JMM nominees were ahead in four, followed by the OGP and CPI with two each and the CPI-M with one.
Independents were leading in 10 seats.
In the last assembly elections, the BJD had won 68 seats, while the BJP and Congress had 38 and 25 seats respectively.