BHUBANESWAR: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), facing the prospect of a hard bargaining over seats from its alliance partner Biju Janata Dal (BJD), has another problem on hand.
The delimitation exercise has changed the boundaries of many constituencies of Western Orissa which it considers to be its stronghold. Out of the 38 seats spread over nine districts, BJP won 10 out of 19 it contested.
However, the number of seats in the nine districts have come down to 33 after the delimitation exercise. Two seats from where BJP MLAs had won in the last elections had been abolished in the delimitation, while the boundaries of many constituencies have changed.
Bargarh district has now five constituencies. Melchhamunda constituency from where the BJP had won in the last election has been abolished. Bhatli seat which was reserved for Scheduled Caste has been dereserved. Former State BJP president Bimbadhar Kuanr represented Bhatli in the Assembly. Other constituencies in the district include Padampur, Bijepur, Bargarh and the newly craved out Attabira (SC).
Jharsuguda district has two Assembly seats after the delimitation. Both the seats, Jharsuguda and Brajrajnagar are general seats. BJP State president Suresh Pujari had contested 2004 Assembly polls unsuccessfully from Brajrajnagar. Laikera (ST) from where Brundaban Majhi won last election defeating former chief minister and senior Congress leader Hemananda Biswal has been abolished. It is not yet clear how many seats the party will demand from the district after the rejig.
The party’s performance in Sundargarh district was not satisfactory last time. Out of the five seats it contested in the district, it won only from the Sundargarh seat.
Sambalpur district will have four Assembly seats —Kuchinda (ST), Rengali (SC), Sambalpur and Rairakhol. Sambalpur is represented by Minister of State for Transport Jaynarayan Mishra while Rabinarayan Naik had won from Kuchinda (ST).
BJP had lost in Deogarh to Congress in 2004. Sonepur SC seat has been dereserved while Biramaharajpur has been reserved for SCs. Binka seat has been abolished. Loisingha, general seat, has been reserved for Scheduled Castes while Titilagarh has been dereserved. However, Patnagarh represented by Urban Development Minister Kanak Vardhan Singhdeo remains unchanged.