BHUBANESWAR: With the Election Commission of India (ECI) announcing that by-polls to two seats in Odisha will be completed before November 29, political parties have started the process of candidate selection.
Sources said BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has entrusted senior leaders with the task of overseeing by-polls in the two constituencies. While Deputy Chairperson of the State Planning Board Sanjay Dasburma, Minister of State for Water Resources Raghunandan Das, MLA from Cuttack-Barabati Debasis Samantray and Balikuda MLA Prashant Kumar Muduli would be in-charge of Tirtol constituency, Law Minister Pratap Jena will look after Balasore Sadar constituency. Jena is also the observer of Balasore district.
Samantray told mediapersons here that the BJD is in advantageous position in both the constituencies and will wrest Balasore Sadar seat from the BJP. The saffron party has also started the process of selection of candidates. “Selection of candidates is in the final stage and their names will be sent to the Central Parliamentary Board,” State BJP general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan said.
However, the fight for Balasore will be tough as Union Minister Pratap Chandra Sarangi is likely to camp in the constituency to ensure that the party retains the seat. In the 2019 Assembly election, Madam Mohan Dutta of the BJP who secured 74,815 votes had defeated his nearest BJD rival Jiban Pradip Das. Das had secured 61,409 votes. Congress candidate Manas Ranjan Das Pattnaik had ended up as a distant third with only 19,704 votes. In the Lok Sabha polls, BJP had also retained its lead in the Balasore Sadar segment.
Though the picture is still unclear about the BJD and BJP candidates from the Balasore Sadar seat, Congress is likely to field Nabajyoti Patnaik, son of president of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Niranjan Patnaik, as its candidate from Balasore. Senior Congress MLA Suresh Kumar Routray told mediapersons that the Pradesh Election Committee (PEC) will meet soon to finalise candidates for Balasore Sadar and Tirtol seats.