Bijepur: After BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik won both the Hinjili Assembly seat (his home turf) and the Bijepur Assembly seat, political circles are abuzz with talks of possible by-election in either of the seats.
The Chief Minister is to resign from one of the seats. People are talking about which seat the Chief Minister will vacate.
Political observers pointed out that during the campaign for the Bijepur by-election in 2018, the Chief Minister had indicated that he would contest from the seat in the 2019 Assembly elections.
This time, within a brief period of campaigning, Patnaik managed to win the hearts of the people of Bijepur. And the poll results reflected this. The Chief Minister defeated his nearest rival, the BJP’s Sanat Kumar Gartia, by a margin of 56,533 votes.
Patnaik polled 5,977 votes more than that of what party candidate Reeta Sahu had polled in the by-election.
It was said that the Chief Minister had contested from Bijepur to put a grip on the party organisation in Bargarh, Bolangir, Sambalpur, Sundargarh and Kalahandi.
However, the ruling party nominees have miserably failed in the Parliamentary elections in these districts. The BJP has acquired all the five Lok Sabha seats.
On the other hand, the BJD stunned political pundits by winning all seven Assembly seats under the Bargarh Parliamentary seat.
Political pundits pointed out that the Chief Minister is most likely to retain the Bijepur seat in the interest of the party, given the factors – rise of the BJP and his promise to look after the development of Bijepur constituency.
But a few analysts argue that as his winning margin in Bijepur is less than that in Hinjili, he may vacate Bijepur and rehabilitate a party leader in this seat.
PNN
