BHUBANESWAR: The stars have bitten the dust. The fanfare with which political parties lured film stars into the electoral battle has proved a lost cause. Barring Odia superstar Sidhant Mohapatra who has now been a pro of sorts in politics and Akash Das Nayak, a novice who emerged a winner, the rest have fallen flat on their face.
Till reports last came in, Sidhant, a BJD candidate seeking re-election to Berhampur Parliamentary constituency was safely coasting towards victory with a 70,000 margin over Congress’ Chandrasekhar Sahu, a former Union Minister.
Akash, turning up for the ruling party as a first-timer, too was on safe grounds with a handsome margin of over 20,000 from his nearest candidate Biswajeet Nayak of the Congress.
However, others did not find the going smooth. Yesteryear superstar Bijay Mohanty, fielded by the Congress from Bhubaneswar Parliamentary constituency, was struggling after having polled about 1.37 lakh votes. He was third in the race, well behind sitting MLA Prasanna Patsani (3.99 lakh votes) and BJP’s Prithviraj Harichandan (2.2 lakh votes).
In Cuttack, Aparajita was way behind BJD’s Bhartruhari Mahtab. She had polled barely 1.92 lakh votes while the veteran Mahatab was ahead with 4.61 lakh votes.
In Champua Assembly segment, comedian Tatwa Prakash Satpathy, popular as Papu Pom Pom, came a distant third after Sanatan Mahakud and Kusha Apat, both Independent candidates. He polled 10,223 votes while the winner Mahakud grabbed 69,635 votes.
The reason behind their loss could be attributed to the party they chose. Both Mohanty and Aparajita had to run against the anti-UPA sentiment and a massive Naveen surge which spelled their doom.
For Papu, known for excellent comic timing, he was a complete outsider at Champua where he was received with eggs when he first turned up in the town. And that proved his undoing.