Jagatsinghpur: A rise in vote share for the BJP in last general and panchayat elections has led to an increase in the number of aspirants in the saffron party in Balikuda-Erasama Assembly segment of Jagatsinghpur district, a report said.
The candidate of the ruling BJD had won this seat in 2009, 2014 and 2019 elections. The BJP, buoyed by an increase in vote share, has launched preparations to perform even better in the 2024 elections. The rise in vote share during the last general and panchayat elections has led to an increase in the number of candidates aspiring for tickets from the saffron party.
The 2019 election had created an opportunity for BJP while there was a nationwide wave for the party. Senior BJD leader Dr Damodar Rout had then switched over to BJP and contested from this seat. It was then said that Rout will win the election by influencing the majority of voters with his political acumen and experience which he had earned over the years. However, this remained a pipedream as he failed to secure even the second position.
In 2009 elections, BJP received 3.78 per cent votes while it received 2.05 per cent votes in 2014 elections. The vote share went up sharply in 2019 when the saffron party polled 19.5 per cent votes or 37,611 votes in the election.
The ruling BJD received 53.83 per cent votes while the Congress candidate secured 25.53 per cent votes. The political equation in the constituency started changing since then. Later, Rout left BJP but that failed to have any impact in the party’s position in the constituency. This was reflected in the 2022 Zilla Parishad election as more votes were cast for the saffron party candidates.
Party leaders and workers claim that the public opinion is in favour of BJP. Political analysts claim that this might be the reason for which the number of aspirants is increasing in BJP. Party workers attributed the role of party leader Khirod Chandra Parida in the increase in vote share for the saffron party.
Parida is known as a good organiser in the constituency. He was in RSS since 1980 and with ABVP from 1982. Parida joined BJP and is now working as a whole timer for the party after retiring from government service in 2021.
He is also working as the coordinator of the party organisation in Balikuda-Erasama constituency. Parida said that he expects to get ticket and become the party candidate from this Assembly constituency in the 2024 election.
District executive member Sibabrata Das is another aspirant for the party ticket from this constituency. He left Congress during the last election and joined the saffron party. He was earlier a Zilla Parishad member of the Congress party and a known personality in Balikuda area.
Similarly, special invitee member of BJP’s state executive Sanjay Mohanty is another aspirant for the party ticket. He joined BJP during the 2019 election. The district executive member Sashikant Parida is also another aspirant for the party ticket while Satya Sarathi Mohanty who lives in Haryana has also joined the race for the party ticket. Satya Sarathi reached the constituency around three months back and started works to galvanise the party organisation.
He somehow became disputed in some incidents. A merger meeting was scheduled to be held at Erasama January 29 but was cancelled later. Later, the merger meeting was held at Balikuda instead of Erasama March 3 but BJP’s state president Manmohan Samal stayed away from the meeting. This has been giving a different message to the voters.
PNN
