BHUBANESWAR: At a time when the state leadership of Congress is busy in the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, the party’s performance in the recently concluded Dhamnagar bypoll can only be termed disappointing. The party’s candidate Baba Harekrushna Sethi not only lost his deposit but also polled one of the lowest ever votes.
Result of the bypoll to Brajrajnagar Assembly seat held in May this year in which the Congress had relegated BJP to the third position had raised hopes for revival of the party’s fortunes in the state. But the Dhamnagar bypoll result has once again exposed the inherent weaknesses of the party in coastal regions of the state.
The Congress candidate could only secure 3,561 votes in the bypoll which was less than half of the 7,303 polled by party candidate Bidyadhar Jena in the 2019 general elections. The history of elections to Dhamnagar Assembly constituency indicates that Congress once had a decent base in the area. The party’s candidate Jagannath Rout had won from the constituency way back in 1995.
But after that the party gradually lost its base to its rivals BJD and BJP. Congress candidate Hrudananda Sethi got 12,046 votes in the 2014 elections while Netranand Mallick got 29,844 votes in the 2009 Assembly polls.
Leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Narasingha Mishra admitted that the party’s performance in the bypoll disappointed him. The result of the Brajrajnagar bypoll had raised some hopes, but in Dhamnagar the party could not even poll half of what it had got in the 2019 elections.
The CLP leader said the party leadership should immediately analyse the result and take corrective actions. “The leadership should not remain silent and let the party again slide back to zero,” he added.
However, president of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Sarat Pattanayak said there was almost no Congress organisation in the constituency.
7 NSUI activists taken into preventive custody
Bhubaneswar: The city police took at least seven activists of National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) into preventive custody for attempting to protest close to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s cavalcade near Keshari Talkies in Bhubaneswar on Monday evening. The protesters had gathered to demonstrate over the alleged lapses in the police investigation related to BJD Zilla Parishad member Dharmendra Sahoo’s death and in Archana Nag’s case.