The result of one particular Assembly constituency in Odisha — the battleground of Kantabanji — was shocking even amidst the switch from BJD to BJP. The seemingly invincible Naveen Patnaik, who had never faced defeat in his entire political career, experienced his first loss. The victor was Laxman Bag, a man who, just 15 years ago, was working as a daily wage labourer.
Mr. Bag, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate, garnered 90,878 votes, while Mr. Patnaik received 74,532 votes in the Kantabanji Assembly segment, resulting in a victory margin of 16,344.
Kantabanji is infamously known as a labour market where brick kiln operators hire workers at relatively low wages. The region has previously made headlines for unfortunate reasons such as starvation deaths and child trafficking. The CM’s nomination from Kantabanji had triggered huge debate on labour migration. Though Mr. Patnaik held two public meetings during his campaign, he apparently failed to convince people about his plans to address their suffering.
According to confidantes, Mr. Bag’s win was not a stroke of luck; his consistent efforts to support people in need within the Kantabanji constituency played a crucial role in his decisive victory.
Born into a poor farming family, Mr. Bag was one of six siblings struggling to make ends meet. In addition to working on his family’s farm, he started earning money by assisting a truck driver for a meagre wage. Eventually, he became a daily wage labourer to support himself.
Although Mr. Bag is rumoured to have connections for sending workers to other States, he has never admitted to it. Over time, he managed to improve his situation by purchasing trucks. In 2023-34, he filed an IT return on the income of ₹4.89 lakh.
His first foray into politics was in the 2014 Assembly election, where he finished third. In the 2019 Assembly election, he narrowly lost by just 128 votes.
Long before Mr. Patnaik announced his candidature, the BJP nominee had already laid the groundwork and visited nearly every village, which worked to his advantage. In his affidavit, Mr. Bag declared 12 pending criminal cases.
The victory of the 48-year-old BJP candidate was more than just an election upset. It delivered a powerful statement on the ineffectiveness of the employment generation programmes implemented by the Biju Janata Dal government.