As the ruling BJD swept the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in Orissa with a landslide victory, many heavyweights belonging to Congress and BJP were made to bite the dust.
Even the lone Union minister from the state and Congress leader Chandrasekhar Sahu failed to retain the Berhampur seat where he was defeated by cine-star Sidhanta Mohapatra of BJD, a newcomer.
The BJD wave also swept away Congress stalwart and nine-time MP Giridhar Gamang's hope as he was defeated in his home turf Koraput (ST) Lok Sabha seat by his old political opponent Jayaram Pangi of BJD.
Congress' poll debacle also saw humiliating defeat of its deputy leader in Assembly Narasingh Mishra in Balangir Lok Sabha constituency at the hands of BJD's Kalikesh Singhdeo.
A large number of BJP heavyweights were also defeated in the electoral battle as the saffron party, which had won seven Lok Sabha and 32 Assembly seats in 2004 polls in alliance with BJD, failed to win a single Lok Sabha seat and secure double figure in Assembly.
BJP state president Suresh Kumar Pujari lost the Brajarajnagar assembly seat for the third time in a row as Congress candidate Anup Sai scored a hattrick from the seat.
Similarly, BJP national secretary and MP Dharamendra Pradhan lost Pallahada assembly seat.
While the Congress, which came to power in the state just five months ago, still enjoying incumbency waves, the disarrayed opposition could not muster enough support even among their party workers as the combine candidate was an independent using neither the symbols of the MNF nor the MPC, analysts said.
Vanlalzawma of the then ruling Mizo National Front (MNF)had retained the Lok Sabha seat in the 2004 polls even as all the three major opposition parties, including the Congress formed an united front against him.
Vanlalzawma, who had scored 1,82,864 votes defeated Dr Laltluangliana Khiangte, the common candidate of the Congress, the Mizoram People's Conference (MPC) and the Zoram Nationalist Party(ZNP) combine by a margin of 23,694 votes in 2004.
In the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, 63.47 per cent poll turnout was recorded in the Mizoram seat and the total valid votes was 3,48,546. In the just-concluded elections held on April 16, the poll turnout was only 49 per cent. Of the total electorate of 6,39,155, 3,20,246 votes were found to be valid.
