SAMBALPUR: THE BJP leader Jayanarayan Mishra bagged the Sambalpur Assembly seat for the fourth time by defeating sitting BJD MLA Raseswari Panigrahi, the saffron party candidate Nitesh Gangaeb won the MP seat by defeating BJD candidate Nalini Kanta Pradhan by 9,162 votes.
However, the total number of the NOTA (None of the Above) votes exceeded the number of votes of the winning margin. Out of the total number of 11,24,455 voters, 13,456 electorates exercised their franchise in favour of NOTA. If sources are to be believed, this was a result of discontentment of people on their leaders over non-fulfilment of their demands. Sambalpur’s population is diversely composed comprising the farmers community including the kendu leaf workers as well as people associated with industries. While every community holds their set of demands, their voice was hardly heard by the leaders which led to NOTA voting, said former Vice-chancellor of Berhampur University and noted expert in Political Science, Aditya Padhee.
