Odisha chief minister and ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik’s popularity will be on test once again when the by-election for the Pipili Assembly constituency takes place on Thursday.
The bypoll will be followed by elections to the panchayat and municipal corporations early next year. The by-election in Pipili will be the last election for an Assembly seat in the state before the general elections in 2024.
The bypoll in Pipili has been necessitated following the death of BJD veteran and former minister Pradeep Maharathy in October 2020. It is being held after being postponed twice, once on account of the death of Congress candidate Ajit Managaraj and again for the Covid-induced lockdown.
As many as 10 candidates are in the fray for the bypoll. The main fight will be between the BJD, which has fielded Maharathy’s son Rudra Pratap as its candidate, and the BJP, which has fielded Ashrit Pattanayak, a Congress dissident. The Congress has brought in a new face Bishwokeshan Harichandan Mohapatra into the battlefield.
Prominent BJP leaders, including Union minister Dharemendra Pradhan, Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi, former Union minister Pratap Sarangi and BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra had campaigned for the party candidate Ashrit. The Assembly seat is part of the Puri Lok Sabha constituency from where Patra had contested and lost last time.
However, Naveen did not campaign for the BJD candidate this time and allowed his party leaders to canvass for Rudra Pratap by adhering to Covid guidelines.
“The chief minister’s popularity is soaring day by day. No one can match him. His work for the development of women through Mission Shakti, and the welfare schemes for the poor, particularly the Biju Swasthya Kalyan card, will help the party win not only this by-election but the coming elections for panchayat and municipalities as well,” BJD general secretary Bijay Nayak told The Telegraph.
The Pipili Assembly constituency, around 25km from Bhubaneswar, has been the fortress of the BJD since its inception in 1997. No Congress candidate has won the election since 1995.
In the 2019 general election, BJD candidate Maharathy had won by securing 88,518 votes. Ashrit, the BJP candidate, had bagged 72,731 votes to finish second. The Congress could manage to secure 9,830 votes out of 1,74,875 polled.
However, the BJP seems confident of making history this time. “People have been fed up with both the BJD and Congress. Earlier the constituency had witnessed a serious fight between the BJD and Congress for years together. But later their leader joined hands with the BJD. People won’t tolerate this kind of attitude,” state BJP general secretary Golak Mohapatra told this newspaper.
He added: “The people have seen over the years that there has been no work done during the (BJD) regime. This time, they would give a chance to the BJP. The people have realised that the future of Odisha can be enriched with BJP’s work only. We will win the by-election by more than 20,000 votes.”
Congress MLA Suresh Routray said: “Wait and watch. We will win the election. People are frustrated with the BJD and false promises of the BJP.”
Around 2,29,998 voters of Pipili will decide the fate of the candidates on Thursday. Security has been beefed up to conduct a peaceful election with adequate deployment of police force. The counting will take place on October 3.