The party hopping with political faces switching sides has emerged as a peculiar feature ahead of simultaneous parliamentary and Assembly polls in Odisha. It has become almost a daily ritual with leaders regardless of political affiliation crossing fences, apparently for getting a party ticket as the State gears up to go for simultaneous polls in four phases on May 13, 20, 25 and June 1.

Keeping in tune with the trend, former MLA Prakash Behera on Friday resigned from the primary membership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

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On Thursday, former Minister and Congress stalwart Surendra Singh Bhoi resigned from the party.

Similarly, yesterday six-time BJD MP, Bhartruhari Mahtab joined the BJP after resigning from the regional party on 22 March. Mahtab , one of the most respected Parliamentarians, joined the party after being ignored and sidelined by the BJD over the past four to five years. Another BJD leader, former MP Sidhant Mohapatra and an eminent tribal face Padmashree Damayanti Beshra joined the party along with Mahtab yesterday.

While the BJP has been bolstering its strength in the state by roping in several BJD leaders, the regional party has been working on and succeeding in inducting Congress leaders.

BJD leaders like Prasant Jadgev, Debasis Nayak, Pradip Panigrahi, Arindam Roy, Arabinda Dhali and Bipin Pradhan have joined the BJP in recent weeks.

The party hopping has infected all the major players- BJD, BJP and Congress while exodus of leaders from the grand old party is apparently more pronounced in the State.

It’s purely the politics of opportunism, to fight polls and grab powers. Ideology has nothing to do for party hoppers. Prospect of denial of tickets is the major cause for switching party allegiance. The trend has been reported in the past polls. But this time, it appears to have gained more momentum, opine analysts.

There are many fence sitters still waiting to cross the fence. The development of this nature will continue for at least one more week as the parties are yet to announce their complete list of candidates, they added.

“Though I deeply dislike political defection, I am left with little option. I will likely vote for the candidate who switched over to another party because he is a candidate with better performance in the House and constituency”, said a voter requesting not to be named.

While BJP has so far announced candidates for 18 out of 21 parliamentary constituencies, it is yet to declare the nominees for 147 Assembly seats. On the other hand, BJD has announced the candidates for 15 out of 21 LS seats and 72 out of 147 Assembly seats. The Congress party, according to former Union minister and Odisha Congress Campaign Committee chairman Bhakta Charan Das, will announce the first list of candidates for elections in Odisha by the first week of April.

Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the coastal State will be held simultaneously in four phases on May 13, 20, 25 and June 1.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) with 12 seats bagged the maximum number of seats, followed by the BJP (8) and the Congress (1).

In the last assembly election, held simultaneously with the general election in 2019, the BJD had recorded thumping electoral success winning 113 of the 147 seats. The BJP stood at distant second with 23 seats, followed by the Congress with 9. The CPM won one seat and another was won by an Independent.