Bhubaneswar: Governor Raghubar Das dissolved the 16th Odisha Legislative Assembly on Monday. This decision was made following a recommendation by the state cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The dissolution comes just before the counting of votes for both the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the state.
The Governor, in accordance with the powers conferred upon him, ordered the dissolution of the Assembly constituted on May 25, 2019, by the Election Commission of India.
The Parliamentary Affair Department of the Odisha government issued a notification regarding this effect. Today’s Cabinet meeting had the dissolution of the Odisha Assembly as its sole agenda item.
Odisha recently held elections in four phases to elect 147 legislators and 21 Lok Sabha members. In the last Assembly, the ruling BJD had 114 members, the BJP had 22 members, and the Congress had only nine members. Additionally, the CPI(M) and an Independent candidate had one member each in the Assembly.
