BHUBANESWAR: The Bhubaneswar-Ekamra Assembly constituency is a stronghold of BJD leader and minister Ashok Chandra Panda, who has retained it for the last three terms. However, this time a fierce contest awaits Panda in his quest to win it for the fourth time in a row.
While Panda had been winning from the seat with a handsome margin for previous three terms, a sharp decline in number of electors, internal dissent and the rising vote-share of BJP have emerged as major obstacles this year. Following revision of the electoral roll, sources said around 2,300 new names were added, while a staggering 16,000 were deleted from the voter list of the constituency, bringing down the total number of electors in the segment to 2.67 lakh against 2.81 lakh earlier.
Political analysts observed omission of such large chunk of names from the list could add a twist to the voting dynamics of the Assembly constituency this time. While it would be difficult for the candidates to find who the electors voted for, the latest hurdle for Panda comes in the form of party leader and four-time corporator Biranchi Mahasupakar, who is now preparing to contest from the seat as an Independent.
Disappointed with the decision of the party leadership, Mahasupakar, who was vying for a BJD ticket from the seat, has now intensified his campaigning to contest as an Independent, multiplying the risk of a split in the party’s votes in the constituency. While Mahasupakar claims people of the constituency want him to fight the elections, his supporters vouch for his popularity saying the BJD’s former Bhubaneswar working president, while fighting the corporation elections as an Independent had defeated the candidate of ruling party on at least two occasions.
Rising vote share of BJP, that has fielded Babu Singh from the seat for the second time, will also be big concern for Panda. From 13.19 per cent in 2009, BJP’s vote share has constantly increased and stands at around 35 per cent in the constituency as of 2019 elections. Panda, however, said none of it will hamper his prospects as people in the constituency have always voted for the development work of the Naveen Patnaik led-BJD government. “I will never say this election will be a challenge for me as I have been receiving overwhelming support from my constituents,” he said.
He said the impact of Independent candidates in the constituency will also be negligible during the elections. “Over a dozen Independent candidates had fought me in the previous elections. However, none of them have been accepted by the people of the constituency.” The minister said he had been elected from the seat with a margin of around 44,000 in 2009, around 36,000 in 2014 and close to 29,000 in 2019.