Bhubaneswar: All and sundry is curious to know about the candidate who broke the winning streak of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo and the five-time Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who unsuccessfully contested from Kantabanji assembly seat, the results of which were announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI) today.

The 48-year-old Laxman Bag sprung a surprise as he defeated the popular CM of the state and the president of the regional party which was founded after his legendar father Biju Patnaik. The former ruled the state for 24 years. With this, the defeat prevents Patnaik from becoming India's longest serving CM.

Bag emerged as the dark horse after this feat. He trounced Patnaik-- the star campaigner of the conch party -- by a margin of over 16, 000 votes (final figure yet to be released by the Commission).

As many as 11 candidates were in fray in the 2024 assembly elections from the Kantabanji seat under the Bolangir parliamentary segment. While Naveen secured the second spot, the outgoing legislator Santosh Singh Saluja (Indian National Congress) came a distant third. Saluja who defeated Bag by a narrow margin of 128 votes in 2019 editon of the simultaneous election, had to bite the dust as he was defeated by over 63, 500 vote margin.

Bag polled over 90, 500 votes which were counted till late in the evening.

As per the poll affidavit of Bag, he passed matriculation examination from National Institute of Open Schooling), Allahabad in 2013 at the age of 37. He had declared assets of Rs 1.3 crore which included Rs 99.3 lakh in movable assets and Rs 28.6 lakh in immovable assets. Notably, the this winning candidate, in the election affidavit, had declared 12 criminal cases registered against him.

Worth mentioning, the voter turnout was recorded at 67.96 % in the Phase 2 of the 2024 Odisha Assembly elections held on May 20.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is all set to form the government in the state on its own for the first time in the history of the state. Earlier, it was a coalition partner of the BJD which severed all ties post the Kandhamal riots.