The Kalahandi Lok Sabha seat will witness a keen contest with three strong candidates set to fight for it. The encounter is particularly an issue of prestige for the BJP as its State president Basant Kumar Panda has been declared as party candidate here.
Congress veteran and two-time Kalahandi MP, Bhakta Charan Das, is the party nominee this time too. Besides, his son, Sagar Charan Das, is the Congress candidate for the Bhawanipatna Assembly seat, a segment of this Parliamentary constituency.
The BJD has fielded Puspendra Singh Deo, a sitting MLA under the Lok Sabha jurisdiction, as its nominee for the Parliamentary seat dislodging its incumbent MP Arka Keshari Deo.
The Congress and the BJD seem to be happy over the BJP’s decision to make Basant Panda as its candidate since he, though being the State party chief, is considered to be a weak contender against them.
The leadership of Panda, the incumbent MLA of Nuapada under this Lok Sabha constituency, had miserably failed in the last panchayat elections in his Assembly area.
