Mohan Charan Majhi Takes Oath as Odisha Chief Minister; PM Modi, Naveen Patnaik Present

Bhubaneswar: Mohan Charan Majhi took oath as the new Chief Minister of Odisha on Wednesday at Janata Maidan.

The oath of office was administered by Odisha Governor Raghubar Das, in a grand ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former CM Naveen Patnaik and several BJP Chief Ministers.

This marks the first time the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has assumed power in the state, ending Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief Naveen Patnaik’s 24-year tenure following a significant defeat in the State Assembly elections.

Mohan Charan Majhi, a four-term MLA, secured a commanding victory in the Keonjhar constituency with a margin of approximately 87,815 votes, defeating BJD’s Mina Majhi.

Earlier, Majhi committed to initiating work within the first 100 days of the new government to deliver on the BJP’s election promises. He was elected leader of the BJP legislature party in Odisha on Tuesday.

Majhi’s political journey began as a Sarpanch from 1997-2000. He was first elected to the state assembly in 2000 as part of the BJD-BJP alliance and re-elected in 2004. He served as the government deputy chief whip in the coalition government from 2005 to 2009 and was elected again as an MLA in 2019.

In the 2024 Odisha Assembly Elections, the BJP secured 78 seats with a 40.07% vote share, translating to 1,00,64,827 votes statewide.