Campaigning by political parties in the run-up to the urban local body (ULB) election is in full swing in North Odisha districts.
The BJD, on its part, has roped in celebrities and is also using Facebook for garnering votes.
For the BJD, MP Siddhant Mohapatra, MP Dilip Tirkey and Barchana MLA Amar Satpathy are leading the campaign against the Congress and the BJP. Actor Bobby Mishra, singers Pami and Krishna are also campaigning for the BJD candidates.
While Siddhant and Dilip Tirkey have already started their road shows in Balasore and Baripada, Bobby campaigned for the ruling party in Soro NAC and the Ollywood singers at three places in Balasore.
Similarly, the BJP has launched its extensive campaigning with party observer Amar Singh, former ministers Manmohan Samal, Samir Dey and Nilagiri MLA Pratap Sarangi and district president Madan Mohan Dutta taking the lead.
For Congress, its star campaigner, Union Minister Srikant Jena, began campaigning on Wednesday at Soro. He was accompanied by Pradesh Congress Committee president Jaydev Jena and district Congress president Padma Lochan Panda. The political parties are concentrating on issues such as health care, sanitation and road networks.
On the other hand, some leaders have even started online campaigns to woo young voters.
One among them is Balasore BJD MLA Jiban Pradip Dash, who has started online campaign on his Facebook page. Highlighting the achievements of the State Government and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, he keeps updating his status messages in the social networking site regularly.
Remuna MLA Sudarshan Dash, Bhogarai MLA Ananta Das and BYJD district president Jajati Das have also been working overtime for the victory of their party candidates.
For the MLAs, who were under the scanner for their sympathy towards OJM leader Pyarimohan Mohapatra, the ULB election could turn out to be an opportunity to win the confidence of Naveen.
Altogether, 160 candidates, including 70 Independent candidates, are in the fray for the election to the 132-year-old civic body. Around 91,000 voters will exercise their franchise.