BHUBANESWAR: With a day left for the bypolls to the two Assembly seats in the State, poll pundits are eager to know who voters would favour in Balasore Sadar, BJD being the clear favourite in Tirtol constituency.Will BJP be able to retain the Balasore Sadar seat? That is the million dollar question.
“Winning two of the seats is not going to have any bearing on the Naveen Patnaik government which is enjoying two-third majority in the Assembly. However, a defeat in Balasore Sadar will certainly have a demoralising effect on the BJP,” said a BJP MP after intense campaigning for party candidate Manas Dutta.
The senior BJP leader claimed that the ruling party is always at an advantage in any by-election as the official machinery comes handy. However, the Balasore situation is different from Bijepur for a number of factors.
Though the bypoll is fought by three major political parties including Congress, the actual fight is between BJD and BJP. Analysts say people of the constituency had rejected BJD in the last election and nothing significant has happened in last year and a half for them to vote in favour of the ruling party just because it has given a new face.
In fact, the BJD, BJP and Congress have all fielded candidates who are political greenhorns to stay clear from internal bickering. The BJP candidate is at an advantage since he enjoys the sympathy of voters after the untimely death of his father, former MLA Madan Mohan Dutta, popularly known as Mangu Bhai.
Even as a political rookie, Manas has gained experience of political intricacies as he was looking after the election management of his father in the 2019 election. He has not only developed contact at the booth level but is a known face among the voters.
Manas heavily banks on the good will of the voters who loved his father for his amiable and helping nature.In contrast, the popularity of BJD candidate Swarup Kumar Das, a two-time councilor of Balasore Municipality, is limited to the district headquarters town. Neither Das nor the Congress candidate Mamata Kundu has any contact with the voters of rural areas of the constituency.
Facing opposition from within the district unit of the party, fate of Das largely depends on the support of district BJD leaders, political observers feel.