JAGATSINGHPUR: BJP has scripted history by winning both Paradip and Jagatsinghpur Assembly seats.
The party’s candidate Amarendra Das for Jagatsinghpur and Sampad Swain for Paradip prevailed over heavyweights and caused a stir in the local politics of the region. Das registered his maiden win over BJD’s Prasant Muduli defeating the latter by a margin of 21,683 votes. BJP workers celebrated in Naugaon and Jagatsinghpur to mark Das’ victory who paid homage to Swami Vivekananda’s statue at SVM College in Jagatsinghpur from where he had started his political career.
Das’ triumph was not only over Muduli but also over senior BJD leader Chiranjib Biswal, who had campaigned vigorously against him after recently defecting from Congress. Biswal’s efforts to mobilise Congress votes in favour of BJP ultimately backfired, as the majority of the voters supported Das.
The key factors that led to Das’ victory were anti-incumbency, a wave of support for BJP, votes from Congress supporters and backing from followers of late former minister Bishnu Das. Das attributed his win to strong local support. He thanked state BJP leaders, including Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, for their support. He said the local populace rejected external leaders like Biswal and Muduli while voting for a man hailing from a humble background. He committed to serving the poor people of his constituency.
In Paradip, Sampad defeated BJD’s Geetanjali Routray, wife of local MLA Sambit Routray, by a margin of 15,619 votes. Sampad also unofficially triumphed over senior BJD leader Bapi Sarkhel, who had campaigned against him after leaving Congress. Swain’s victory was attributed to support from BJD dissidents, backlash against Routray, Sarkhel’s anti-social background, strong backing of local trade union leaders and workers, unpopularity of Sambit and a strong BJP wave.
Sampad dedicated his victory to the people of Paradip Assembly constituency, vowing to focus on the area’s development with the blessings of the local community. BJP leader and trade union leader Prakash Chandra Tripathy said, “The BJP won this seat due to the hardwork and dedication of local Sampad and MP candidate Bibhu Prasad Tarai. I had predicted wherever senior BJD leader Sarkhel is involved, there will be defeat. Geetanjali was defeated because of Sarkhel. Similarly, Mahakalpada BJD MLA candidate Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak was also defeated when Sarkhel campaigned for him”. In other results, debutante BJD MLA candidate Sarada Jena won the Balikuda Erasama Assembly seat, defeating BJP’s Satyasarthi Mohanty by 25,361 votes. Similarly, BJD’s Ramakant Bhoi secured Tirtol, defeating BJP’s Rajkishore Behera by a margin of 28,495 votes.