Achyuta Samanta Announces Retirement from Active Politics After Lok Sabha Defeat

Bhubaneswar: In a surprising move, BJD Leader and former Kandhamal MP Achyuta Samanta has decided to call it quits from active politics.

This announcement comes shortly after his defeat in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections from the Kandhamal constituency.

According to reports, Samanta met with the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief Naveen Patnaik on Saturday. During their meeting, Samanta expressed his desire to retire from politics and thanked Patnaik for providing him the opportunity to contest the elections.

The Founder of KIIT & KISS faced a setback as he lost to BJP’s Sukanta Panigrahi by a margin of 21,371 votes, marking a significant win for the saffron party in the state, securing 20 out of 21 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.

In stark contrast, Samanta had secured a resounding victory in the 2019 elections, defeating his BJP’s Kharabela Swain, by a massive margin of 1,49,216 votes from the same constituency.