BHUBANESWAR: As expected, the BJD on Friday nominated Deepali Das, daughter of late Health minister Naba Kishore Das, as its candidate for bypoll to Jharsuguda Assembly constituency scheduled on May 10. Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik announced Deepali as the party’s candidate hours before the meeting of district and senior observers of the party at Naveen Nivas.
The Election Commission of India had declared the schedule of the bypoll on March 29. Soon after Deepali’s candidature was announced, Revenue and Disaster Management minister Pramilla Mallick claimed the party will win the bypoll with a record margin of more than 50,000 votes. Her name was doing the rounds as the ruling party’s candidate for the bypoll as she has been undertaking extensive tours to different places of the Assembly constituency during the last one month.
Opposition BJP and Congress are, however, yet to announce their candidates. While BJP sources maintained the party candidate will be announced soon, president of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Sarat Pattanayak has constituted a committee led by senior MLA Santosh Singh Saluja for selection of the nominee. Naba had won the last three Assembly elections consecutively from the constituency. While he won as a Congress candidate in 2009 and 2014, he was elected on a BJD ticket in 2019.