In 2019, not only did the BJP bag the Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha seat, but it also registered wins in five of the seven assembly segments falling under the parliamentary constituency. This forced Naveen Patnaik to depute BJD organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das, who was made the observer for Mayurbhanj. As a result of his efforts, in the 2022 panchayat elections, the BJD won a majority of the zila parishad seats in the district. It is based on those results that the party thinks it has a real chance of defeating the BJP here this time