BHUBANESWAR/BALANGIR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday filed his nomination papers from Kantbanji Assembly seat in Balangir district, the second constituency from where he is contesting apart from Hinjili in Ganjam district.
The chief minister landed at a temporary helipad near Titlagarh before heading to the sub-collector’s office where he was welcomed by hundreds of party workers and locals. Unlike Hinjili which is a traditional BJD stronghold, the regional party had finished third in Kantabanji in 2019. The BJD had managed to win the constituency only once in 2014 when Mohammed Ayub Khan defeated Congress’ Santosh Singh Saluja.
Sources in BJD said this time the party is targeting to garner 30,000 to 40,000 more votes than 2019 when its candidate Ajaya Kumar Das had polled 54,527 votes. This will ensure the defeat of Saluja, a four time MLA who is seeking re-election for the fifth time.
The other immediate benefit of the chief minister’s candidature is that it will check the growth of BJP in the Assembly segment and enable BJD to give a tough fight to the saffron party in the Lok Sabha seat from where sitting MP Sangeeta Kumari Singhdeo is seeking re-election. In 2019, BJD candidates had won from four Assembly segments while Congress had won two seats. BJP had won from one segment.
5T chairman VK Pandian, senior BJD leader AU Singhdeo, Water Resources Minister Tukuni Sahu and other senior leaders were present at the office of the Titlagarh sub-collector when the chief minister filed his nomination papers. The chief minister had filed his nomination for Hinjili Assembly constituency on Tuesday.