JAGATSINGHPUR: Eight of the nine candidates in fray for Tirtol bypoll are political greenhorns who will enter the election arena for the first time.The BJD has fielded Bijay Shankar Das, BJP Rajkishore Behera, Congress Himansu Bhusan Mallick and CPI Bijay Kumar Bhoi. Besides, five Independents - Arjun Charan Behera, Ramesh Chandra Mallick, Rabindranath Sethy, Sachitra Mallick and Golap Manjari Bhoi - are also contesting the by-election.
Except Rajkishore, all others are political debutants. The BJP candidate had unsuccessfully contested the 2009 and 2014 elections from Tirtol Assembly segment on Congress ticket. Last month, he defected to BJP. Having his first brush with electoral politics, Congress candidate Himansu has chalked out a unique strategy for his campaign. He is staying in the houses of individual villagers in every panchayat to develop rapport with voters. Tirtol Assembly segment has 61 panchayats.
BJD nominee Bijay Shankar, son of former Tirtol MLA late Bishnu Das, is the youngest among all the candidates. He is hoping to ride on the sympathy wave following his father’s death. He too has embarked on door-to-door visits to woo voters in different villages.
For the first time, the CPI has fielded its candidate Bijay Kumar Bhoi in the poll arena in Tirtol. The Independent candidates are yet to start their election campaign. Meanwhile, 50 grassroots level workers of Congress and BJD joined BJP on Sunday.