Bhubaneswar: At least 14 chief ministers governed Odisha during the post-independence days, of which six have never been defeated by contenders in elections throughout their political career.

The veteran politicians and statesmen are Dr. Harekrushna Mahatab, Nabakrushna Choudhuri, Rajendra Narayan Singh Deo, Bishwanath Das, Nandini Satpathy and Naveen Patnaik.

On the contrary, former chief ministers namely Biju Patnaik, Biren Mitra, Sadashiva Tripathy, Binayak Acharya, Nilamani Routray, Janaki Ballabh Patnaik, Hemananda Biswal and Giridhar Gamang were defeated in elections either once or more.

Dr. Mahatab was elected between 1946 to 1952 from the east Bhadrak seat on the Indian National Congress ticket and became the chief minister. In the first General Elections of 1952, he had contested from Cuttack with a Congress ticket and got 54.46 percent votes. He was a Union minister in Nehru's Cabinet.

Naba Choudhuri had won elections on the Congress party ticket in 1937 from the erstwhile Cuttack Sadar segment and again in 1946 from north Kendrapara segment. However, he resigned in 1949 and again contested from east Bhadrak seat in a bypoll and won as a Congress candidate.

In the 1977 Assembly elections, Nandini Satpathy defeated Malati Choudhuri and secured 31,829 votes coming to approximately 80.07 percent votes in totality. Choudhuri got 4,063 votes instead.

Singh Deo represented the Bolangir constituency as a Swatantra Party candidate between 1967 to 1971. Similarly, Bishwanath Das had contested and won from Rourkela as an independent candidate.

Naveen Patnaik has achieved a rare feat as the longest-serving CM in the country.

Worth mentioning, Jyoti Basu served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal for 23 years and 138 days. Former Sikkim CM Pawan Kumar Chamling holds the record of second longest-serving CM with 24 years and 166 days.

Patnaik, a five-time Odisha CM, has served for 23 years and 137 days, as of July 21, 2023.