BHUBANESWAR: The 10 candidates the ruling BJD announced in its fifth list for the ensuing Assembly polls, contained names of five women, most of whom would be in the electoral battle for the first time.
A close look gives a clear indication that familial ties dominate selection criteria in the regional party. In its strategy to fight anti-incumbency, the ruling outfit has chosen fresh faces only to fall back on the same families.
The five women candidates BJD announced on the day - Laxmipriya Nayak for Chitrakonda, Arundhati Devi for Deogarh, Barsha Singh Bariha for Padampur, Sanjukta Singh for Angul, Sulakshana Geetanjali Devi for Sanakhemundi and Indira Nanda for Jeypore - all have strong political ties and belong to political families of their respective regions.
Laxmipriya is the niece of incumbent BJD MLA of Chitrakonda Purna Chandra Baka, while Arundhati Devi who got ticket for Deogarh, is the wife of incumbent Sambalpur MP Nitesh Ganga Deb of the BJP. Interestingly, she was nominated a day after she joined the ruling party.
Similarly, Barsha Singh Bariha who has been renominated for Padampur, is the elder daughter of late MLA Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha and daughter-in-law of senior BJP leader Rama Ranjan Baliarsingh.
Sulakshana Geetanjali Devi, the Dharakote royal scion, who makes a foray into politics for the first time, got ticket in place of her mother Nandini Devi, the former MLA of Sanakhemundi, who lost her second bid from the same seat in 2019.
Indira Nanda was chosen from Jeypore because the ruling party wanted a fresh candidate to eliminate the anti-incumbency factor. She is the spouse of Rabi Narayan Nanda, the party’s senior leader and former minister. The BJD had been struggling to find a candidate from the seat.
The ruling party, so far, has announced names for 126 seats, of which 33, around 25 per cent, both male and female, belong to politically active families or have members or close relatives in politics.
This list includes names of at least 20 contenders who will be fighting the electoral battle for the first time.
Candidates such as Kaushalya Pradhani, Latika Naik and Nabina Naik have replaced their husbands to be nominated by the ruling outfit. Kaushalya is married to Sadasiva Pradhani, Nabina to Subash Gond and Latika to Dusmant Naik. The husbands had contested the assembly elections on BJD ticket in 2019. Likewise, Subhasini Jena, Gitanjali Routray and Anusaya Patra have been offered seats from Basta, Paradip and Badasahi seats respectively. Subhashini is the wife of former Balasore MLA Rabindra Jena, while Gitanjali is married to Paradip MLA Sambit Routray, also son of veteran BJD leader late Damodar Rout.
Sanghamitra Swain, the BJD’s candidate from Soroda, is also the spouse of sitting MLA Purna Chandra Swain. The party has also renominated former minister Naba Kishore Das’ daughter Dipali Das and minister Rita Sahu, wife of the late former Congress MLA Subal Sahu, from Bijepur seat.
Candidate Anil Barwa who is contesting from Rajgangpur on a BJD ticket, is the son of senior party leader and former minister Mangala Kisan, while Rohit Joseph Tirkey who is the party’s face for the Birmitrapur Assembly seat is the son of tribal leader and four-time MLA George Tirkey.
Political observers said several factors usually prompt parties to pick new faces from political families.
“The major factor is known-face syndrome that works well in garnering votes when a new candidate is picked from a prominent political family,” said Anil Kumar Mohapatra, political science professor at FM University.
Besides, legacy of influence, local voting dynamics and voters’ allegiance to a political family are also other factors that lead to such decisions. “There is also sympathy wave that political parties often ride,” he said.
While BJD spokespersons remained tight-lipped on why so many from political families have been nominated, the party’s Chitrakonda candidate Laxmipriya Nayak said she was picked purely based on merit.
“I have been working sincerely as the president of BJD’s Mahila wing in Malkangiri and visiting door-to-door in Chitrakonda as well as villages of Swabhiman Anchal in popularising women-oriented welfare programmes of the state government,” she said.