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BJP-BJD alliance ahead in 5 Orissa seats

The Biju Janata Dal-BJP combine in Orissa has established an early lead in at least five Lok Sabha seats.

According to the early trends available so far, the BJD candidates are leading over their nearest Congress rivals in Phulbani, Dhenkanal and Aska constituencies while the BJP was leading in Deogarh and Keonjhar parliamentary constituencies.

Three of these seats were held by the Congress in the last Lok Sabha.

In Phulbani, BJD candidate and former minister Padmanav Behera is leading over his nearest Congress rival Mrutunjaya Nayak by a margin of over 8000 votes.

Similarly, in Dhenkanal, former Union minister K P Singh Deo (Congress) was trailing behind BJD's Tathagat Satpathy, son of former chief minister Nandini Satpathy.

The Congress has, however, made an early lead in Behrampur parliamentary constituency where Chief Minister J B Patnaik's wife Jayanti Patnaik is leading by over 4,000 votes over her nearest BJP rival Gopinath Gajpati. It is also leading in Koratpur, where Giridhar Gamango has an edge of 6,000 votes over BJD's Jayaram Pangi.

In Deogarh, former state BJP president Debendra Pradhan is leading over his nearest Congress rival Sriballav Panigrahi by a margin of over three thousand votes.

Biju Janata Dal president Navin Patnaik, the youngest son of late Biju Patnaik, has also established an early lead of 4139 votes over his nearest rival Chandra Sekhar Sahoo of the Congress. Patnaik had won the seat in the 1997 byelection.

In the Keonjhar (ST), BJP candidate Upendra Nath Nayak has established an early lead over his Congress rival Madhav Sardar.

Elections '98

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