BJD's Prasanna Acharya’s failure is BJP's Suresh Pujari’s gain in Odisha

Rajya Sabha MP Prasanna's unpopularity with the Modi wave may have helped the Bargarh MP to bring votes in his votes.
Prasanna Acharya (File Photo | Biswanath Swain/EPS)
Prasanna Acharya (File Photo | Biswanath Swain/EPS)

BARGARH: Modi wave may have helped BJP’s Bargarh MP Suresh Pujari sway voters in his favour but his opponent BJD Rajya Sabha MP Prasanna Acharya’s unpopularity too was a huge contributing factor, believe political observers.

Prasanna’s failure is a major setback for the ruling party as he was defeated in his home turf by Pujari, who is an outsider to the constituency. Prasanna was defeated by a margin of 63,939 votes by Pujari. While Pujari got 5, 81,245 votes, Prasanna managed to  poll 5,17,306 votes.

Surprisingly though, BJD has grabbed all the seven Assembly segments under the Parliamentary constituency. Altogether, the BJD candidates for the seven Assembly segments under the Parliamentary constituency managed to get 1,13,178 more votes compared to Prasanna. The total number of votes polled by the seven BJD nominees is 6,30,484.

On the other hand, Pujari got 1, 25,395 more votes compared to the total votes garnered by the BJP candidates in Assembly segments. The total number of votes polled by the seven BJP nominees is 4, 55,850.

Though Prasanna is considered an influential leader of Western Odisha, voters in his home district Bargarh were not in his favour. They accused him of not doing much for development of the district despite holding important posts in his long political career. He was MLA from Bargarh Assembly segment in 1990 and 1995 and had served as a minister during the Biju Patnaik-led Janata Dal Government in the State.

In 2009 elections he had won from Rairakhol Assembly constituency in Sambalpur district and had also represented the prestigious  Sambalpur Parliamentary constituency three times in a row from 1998. In 2014, Prasanna had defeated Congress candidate Subal Sahu by just 458 votes in Bijepur segment.

Political observers said fate of Prasanna this time depended on popularity of BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik and two BJD ministers from Western Odisha - Snehangini Chhuria and Susanta Singh - besides, Chairman of Western Odisha Development Council (WODC) Kishore Mohanty, who were in the fray in different Assembly segments of the Parliamentary constituency. However, he failed to cash in on the opportunity due to his unpopularity. 

VOTES POLLED

  • Pujari got 5, 81,245 votes
  • Prasanna polled 5,17,306 votes
  • Total number of votes polled by the seven BJD nominees is 6,30,484
  • Total votes polled by the seven BJP nominees is 4, 55,850

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