Of all the seats the BJP is vying for, this is one of the prestigious ones.

Mayurbhanj remains the BJP’s “presidential” seat, as President Droupadi Murmu’s native village Uperbeda and in-laws’ village Pahadpur come under the constituency.

Murmu was an MLA from the Rairangpur Assembly seat under the Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha constituency twice before being appointed the governor of Jharkhand and then elevated to the nation’s top post.

While BJP leaders have consistently maintained that they have brought a Santhali woman from the remote corners of Mayurbhanj to the post of President, the ruling BJD in Odisha keeps asserting that it was chief minister Naveen Patnaik who supported Murmu because of his love for the state and tribals.

Murmu had served as minister under Naveen during the BJD-BJP alliance between 2002 and 2004.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, has often asserted that the BJP has shown its love and respect for the tribals of the country by giving Murmu the highest post.

The BJP and the BJD tried to consolidate tribal support in the last phase of polling. The tribal votes have the potential to sway the election results. The last time the BJD won the seat was in 2014 but lost to the BJP in 2019.

After the loss, the BJD started strengthening its grassroots politics here. In the 2022 panchayat elections, it won a majority of the zilla parishad seats in the district, recovering much of its ground. However, the BJP pinned its hope on the “goodwill” that it generated by making Murmu the President, which could help it win the Mayurbhanj seat.

The BJD has fielded revenue minister Sudam Marndi, 56, a strong tribal leader from Mayurbhanj, as its Lok Sabha candidate. He is pitted against BJP’s Naba Charan Majhi, a protege of Murmu. Marndi has diverse political experience. Once a firebrand leader of the JMM, he had won the Lok Sabha seat in 2004 on its ticket, securing over 37 per cent of the votes.

On the other hand, the sitting BJP MLA from Rairangpur, Majhi, 63, got the ticket, replacing Union minister Bishweswar Tudu. Though the fight is mainly between the BJD and the BJP, the JMM, which has fielded Anjani Soren — the daughter of its founder Sibu Soren and sister of former Jharkhand chief minister Hemanta Soren — is poised to pose a challenge to the electoral prospect of the two parties.

Pahadpur residents, however, spoke highly of Murmu and the developments that followed after her elevation. Lakhan Majhi, accompanied by his wife Kunimani of Pahadpur, said: “We feel proud to be residents of Pahadpur. There is development everywhere. We get piped water and solar lights. A skill centre has been set up by Larsen & Toubro at a cost of ₹6 crore. It’s because of the BJP that Murmu has reached such heights.”

Similarly, the people of Rairangpur, the constituency’s commercial hub and hometown of Murmu, are happy it’s now connected to the railways.

Not only are the villagers of Pahadpur and the nearby villages impressed with the development in their areas, but Murmu’s native village, Uperbeda, is also witnessing a series of developments. Pucca roads are being constructed. “We have never seen so much development. It’s because of Murmu only,” said Rajkumar Mahakud, a mason.

Mayurbhanj votes on June 1