JHARSUGUDA: With the Jharsuguda by-election drawing near, the three main political parties BJD, BJP, and Congress have scaled up campaigning to woo voters. BJD candidate Deepali Das, BJP’s Tankadhar Tripathy and Tarun Pandey of Congress have embarked on doorstep electioneering with the promise of development. Incidentally, the three candidates will be contesting elections for the first time.
Deepali is reaching out to the voters with the report card of her late father Naba Kishore Das’ works in Jharsuguda. Similarly, Tankadhar and Tarun are trying to woo voters with their individual strategies including the unfinished development works in the Assembly constituency.
Apart from the efforts of the candidates, the three political parties are banking on social media to secure a win in the bypoll. The parties are extensively using social media platforms to win the hearts of voters. Senior leaders of BJD, BJP and Congress are camping in Jharsuguda and have started mobilising party workers both in urban and rural areas of the constituency.
Sources said the three parties have planned to organise large meetings led by star campaigners in different areas in the coming days. Sources said the BJD seems to have an upper hand due to defections in BJP and Congress units of Jharsuguda. Recently, Congress candidate in the last Assembly election Mahendra Nayak left the grand old party and joined the BJD. Similarly, BJP’s chairman candidate in the recently-concluded municipal elections Trinath Gual joined the ruling party.
Political observers said the high stake by-election will not only be a test for the three electoral greenhorns but also the tone for their respective parties in the 2024 General Elections slated to be held next year. The bypoll was necessitated after the murder of minister and Jharsuguda MLA Naba Kishore Das in January this year. Naba had registered a massive victory in 2019 elections with a vote share of 55.97 per cent. The BJP and Congress had polled 30.04 and 10.68 per cent votes respectively. Apart from Deepali, Tankadhar and Tarun, six Independent candidates will contest the bypoll which will be held on May 10.