BHUBANESWAR: Aska parliamentary constituency is vital for BJD for several reasons including the fact that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik represents Hinjili Assembly segment which is part of the seat.
Besides, the chief minister had made his electoral debut from the Lok Sabha seat in a by-election in 1997 following the demise of his father Biju Patnaik. Biju Babu had won from the constituency in 1996. The chief minister was later elected from the seat twice in 1998 and 1999. He then went on to become the Union minister for steel and mines in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet.
The BJD has never repeated the same candidate twice from the seat except Naveen Patnaik. Following the trend, a new face Ranjita Sahu has been fielded from the seat this time by replacing sitting MP Pramila Bisoyi. Ranjita, who belongs to Kodala area of the district, is known for working for migrant labourers from the district. Besides, both parents of Ranjita, who are former chairpersons of Kodala NAC, are now in BJD.
But despite the fact that Aska Lok Sabha seat has a solid BJD base, Ranjita is pitted against Anita Subhadarshini of BJP, who had polled nearly 3.5 lakh votes from the seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Anita is the daughter of veteran leader and former minister Ramakrushna Patnaik, a close associate of both Biju Patnaik and Naveen. Ramakrushna is popular leader of Ganjam district.
Besides, Anita’s mother Kumudini Patnaik was elected from Aska seat on a BJD ticket in a by-election in 2000 after Naveen resigned from the Lok Sabha to contest the Assembly polls from Hinjili seat. If Anita is succeeds to wrest the seat, it will be a great electoral success for the saffron party which has seen an upsurge in its base.
The seat was a Congress bastion in the past and was represented by national leaders like Ramchandra Rath. But the party is yet to announce a candidate from the seat. Sources said Congress is likely to not field a candidate from the seat and may offer it to its INDIA bloc partner CPI. But there has been no confirmation on it.
The seat has returned BJD candidates six times after formation of the regional political party. After the chief minister shifted to Odisha politics, the constituency was represented by several politicians like Harihar Swain and Nityananda Pradhan who were inducted to the regional outfit from Congress and CPI.
The BJD has maintained its dominance in every election from the seat and six of the seven Assembly segments except Sanakhemundi. After its formation post 2008 delimitation, Sanakhemundi has elected Congress candidate to the Assembly twice in 2009 and 2019.