Kendrapara in Coastal Odisha has been a stronghold of socialist and anti-Congress ideologies since the 1950s. It has been the epicenter of the socialist movement in the state, which opposed the Congress after the first Lok Sabha elections in 1952. The party won 20 of the 21 LS seats, including Kendrapara, in 1980 and 1984. In the late 70s and early 80s, Kendrapara became the constituency of Biju Patnaik, the father of current chief minister Naveen Patnaik.