BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi Retains Bhubaneswar

Incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of Parliament Aparajita Sarangi retained Bhubaneswar in Odisha. She secured a total of 5,12,519 votes, with a winning margin of 35,152 votes. Manmath routray from Biju Janata Dal (BJD) secured the second position with 4,77,367 votes. Syed Yashir Nawaz of the Indian National Congress (INC) came third with 66,362 votes.

Aparajita Sarangi is a former Indian Administrative Service officer from the Odisha cadre of the 1994 batch, decided to leave her job and join the BJP on November 27, 2018 in order to run in the 2019 Indian general election. She contested against Arup Patnaik from the Biju Janata Dal.

Sarangi received the Shakti Samman award in 2012 and has held various positions such as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Rural Development, Bhubaneswar Municipal Commissioner, and secretary of the state’s mass education department. Her husband, Santosh Sarangi, is also an IAS officer from the same batch.

Following her retirement as a civil servant, Aparajita Sarangi became a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and later participated in elections. She was subsequently appointed to parliamentary committees and also became a spokesperson for the Bharatiya Janata Party.

In Lok Sabha elections 2019, Aparajita Sarangi won with 4,85,793 votes. The runner up was Arup Mohan Patnaik of BJD. The margin of victory was 22,882 votes.

In Lok Sabha elections 2014, Prasanna Kumar Patasani of BJD party won with 4,39,130 votes. The runner up was Prithiviraj Harichandan of BJP. 1,89,530 was victory margin of Patasani then.

(This article is part of a Timeline internship project)