All eyes are now in coastal Odisha electoral landscape, which has turned out to be the impregnable stronghold of ruling BJD for more than two decades, ahead of the 1 June final phase of simultaneous polls in Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur parliamentary constituencies.
Around one crore voters are expected to cast their franchise in final phase elections in six Lok Sabha constituencies and 42 Assembly segments coming under these parliamentary seats.
With the Congress in general and the BJP in particular, firing all artilleries targeting the BJD from all perceivable fronts, the regional party, apparently on the back foot in the wake of strong anti-incumbency, is fighting its toughest poll battle to sustain the political dominance in the coastal belt, which is regarded as the prestigious battlefield of political heavyweights.
Of the six constituencies, Balasore and Mayurbhanj are the sole exceptions where the BJP has recorded victories in LS polls. While Salkhan Murmu of the BJP won the seat twice in 1998 and 1999, incumbent union minister Bishweswar Tudu won the seat on party ticket in 2019. The BJD won the seat twice since 1998, while JMM registered its maiden victory in 2004.
The BJP won the Balasore seat on four occasions since 1998 with the Congress and the BJD emerging victorious one-time only. In 2019, BJP’s Pratap Chandra Sarangi tasted victory. Kharabela Swain had recorded victories on the BJP ticket from Balasore in 1998, 1999 and 2004.
The BJD has solidly maintained its winning streak in the remaining 4 LS seats winning on all occasions since 1998.
In Jagatsinghpur, BJD emerged victorious in 1999, 2004, 2014 and 2019 while in 2009; the CPI won it with a pre-poll alliance with BJD.
The key coastal parliamentary constituencies of Kendrapara, Jajpur and Bhadrak have all along been BJD’s bastion with the party winning the seats in uninterrupted sequences since the late nineties.
Prominent among those who figures in the list candidates fighting last phase Lok Sabha polls are BJP’s former Union minister Pratap Sarangi, national vice-president Baijayant Panda; Congress’s former union minister Srikant Jena, BJD’s incumbent minister in Odisha cabinet Sudam Marndi and JMM’s Anjani Soren (daughter of JMM patriarch Shibu Soren and sister of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren)
The voters will decide the fate among others of the Odisha unit BJP president Manmohan Samal, BJD ministers Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak and Preetiranjan Gharei, Ganeswar Behera (contesting on BJD ticket and a former Congress minister) and Congress’ former state president and Minister Niranjan Patnaik in the Assembly polls.
The last phase of polls is poised to be fierce with a majority of seats for the LS and Assembly set for a bipolar contest. The Congress on the strength of its candidates and organisational base is in the race in some of the seats, making the contest triangular, analysts said citing examples of Balasore parliamentary seat and Bhadaripokhari assembly seat where former union minister Srikant Jena and former Odisha Congress President Niranjan Patnaik are trying out their electoral luck.