Jagatsighpur: The BJD, BJP and Congress candidates have filed their nomination papers for the bypoll for the Tirtol Assembly constituency while the date of nomination withdrawal is October 19. With campaigning having already set in motion, all the three parties have drawn up their strategies to win the bypoll. The nominees of the BJD have pinned their hopes on sympathy votes, a report said.
The BJP candidate, Rajkishore Behera, had unsuccessfully contested the elections in 2009 and 2014 on a Congress ticket. He is trying his level best to take advantage of the reported internecine squabbling in the BJD after the death of Bishnu Das.
On the other hand, BJD nominee Bijay Shankar Das is hopeful of getting sympathy votes of his father’s supporters. Notably, the bypoll for the seat was necessitated following the demise of his father Bishun Das. Political observers say, Bijayshankar is deemed fit to get sympathy votes.
Congress nominee Himansu Bhusan Mallick, a young engineer, has posed a challenge o his two rivals as some sections of political observers say he may claim public opinion in his favour due to certain local factors. Congress leaders are hopeful of their success through Himansu Mallick.
Bishnu Das was elected from the seat, reserved for the SC category, April 29, 2019. Das had poled about 54.18 per cent of votes. He had got 93, 967 votes while his rival BJP’s Ramakanta Bhoi had got 30.9 per cent votes, leaving the Congress candidate Deviprasad Mallick at third position.
Then, the BJD had got 53,581 votes while the number of votes gained by Congress was 23,809.
The BJD had polled over 40,000 votes more than that of the BJP. Given the current political equations in the constituency, the BJP is hopeful of reducing the vote gap this time.
It is said that after the death of Bishnu Das, there were several ticket aspirants from the ruling party, but the BJD fielded Bijayshanker, hoping he would get sympathy votes from his father’s supporters.
The ticket hopefuls are now disgruntled, even though the BJD is trying to iron out the differences. The ruling party has asserted that the party will fare well as it is a stronghold of the party. BJD district president and Jagatsingpur MLA Prasant Kumar Muduli asserted that the BJD’s prospects are well secured.
The BJP is trying to take advantage of the disgruntled factions of the BJD. BJP nominee Rajkishore Behera is said to have made some base and was president of the district bar association. Though he was defeated twice on the Congress ticket, this time he expected to do better on the BJP support base.
BJP’s district president Satyabrata Mohaptra said there are several issues on which people will lean toward the BJP.
Congress nominee has also made his base in many panchayats through personal equations with people for a long time. Congress district president Natabar Barik is hopeful of a political breakthrough this time.
PNN
