BHUBANESWAR: Even as the downward slide of the party in the state continued, Congress has decided to regroup and consolidate for the Padampur bypoll, scheduled to be held on December 5.Congress is expecting a good performance in this by-election as the party has a good base in the constituency. Earlier, Congress candidates have won from the constituency. In every election in the recent past, Congress candidates have polled a minimum of 30,000 votes.
The party now hopes to improve from this position. Though senior leaders of the party do not predict an outright win, several of them maintained that the performance of the party in Padampur will be far better than what it was in Dhamnagar.Leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Narasingha Mishra said that Congress still has a strong base in the constituency and there will be good fight in the bypoll.
Though the party was unsuccessful and finished third in the 2019 Assembly election, Congress candidate Satya Bhusan Sahu had polled 32,787 votes. In the 2014 election also, party candidate Prakash Narayan Tripathy had secured 31, 179 votes. However, in the 2009 election, party’s candidate Satya Bhusan Sahu polled 49,847 votes and finished second behind the BJD candidate Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha. In fact Sahu, a three-time MLA and former government chief whip had won from the seat in 2004.