Brajarajnagar: With the political atmosphere getting warmer in this Assembly constituency segment and a final list of candidates for the bypoll yet to come, the major parties might have triangular contest for obtaining the mandates of local voters, some analysts opined.
However, the date of polling has been fixed for May 31, 2022.
The three major political parties in Odisha – namely BJD, BJP and Congress have intensified their electioneering for the bypoll.
Previous general election conducted in 2019 had witnessed a tough fight between BJD and BJP. For quite a long time beforehand, the Assembly constituency was a bastion of CPI. The party candidate and former MLA late Prasanna Panda had won from this seat for six times and represented it in 1961, 1967, 1974, 1985, 1990 and 1995.
Similarly, Congress fielded candidate Upendra Dixit was elected from the seat for three times in 1971, 1977 and 1980. Subsequently, Congress candidate Anup Sai had got elected as the legislator from here consecutively for three times in between 2000 to 2009.
First bypoll was held in Brajarajnagar following the death of former MLA Panda in 1997, December 26. The bypoll had then witnessed a tough contest between Congress candidate Keshab Sahu (who won with 28,476 votes in his favour) and BJP candidate Radharani Panda (who lost with 27,954 votes). However, in 2014 general elections, BJP candidate Radharani won the MLA seat by defeating her nearest contender Anup Sai who had this time fought with a BJD ticket.
In 2019, BJD fielded Kishore Mohanty from Brajarajnagar Assembly constituency segment and he won by defeating BJP’s Radharani.
This means, CPI had won from Brajarajnagar for six times, Congress for seven times and both BJD and BJP once each. The three major political parties have fastened their belts to win popular mandate in the upcoming bypoll in their own favour as a matter of prestige issue.
PNN