In any Indian State, the Panchayat Raj Institution (PRI) poll offers an opportunity for the small political parties and protest groups to test their strength and occupy power at micro level, as it is a small scale election where less financial resources and manpower are needed.
In Odisha, there are a number of national political parties which fail to perform effectively in Assembly election due to their low capacity. There are also newly formed regional political parties. In the PRI system of Odisha, the Zilla Parishad (ZP) election is the only arena where the political parties participate. One ZP constituency of Odisha is equivalent to an Assembly constituency of Goa, in terms of the size of the voters.
There are a few prominent protest groups in Odisha such as the newly lunched farmers’ protest group, the chit fund victims’ association, anti-Vedanta Niayamagiri movement, anti-Tata Kalinganagar protest group, anti-Posco movement of Jagatsinghpur , western Odisha socialist farmers’ movement , Chasi mulia group of Koraput and so on. There are also active trade union organizations.
It has been found that none of these groups is contesting the forthcoming ZP poll though some of them are active at Panchayat level. Perhaps they do not have the voting strength beyond 10,000 voters. During 2012 ZP polls, a local movement called Chassi Mulia Sangha of Koraput district won one ZP seat which later played a crucial role in the formation of Koraput ZP Body. This time, the organization has not been able to participate in the ZP election. The vocal farmers’ organizations and the chit fund protest group have neither given a poll-boycott call, nor have put up ZP candidates. These outfits have not appealed to the voters to cast votes against the ruling party or press NOTA button.
The spectrum of weak political parties of Odisha consists of the BSP, the SP, the CPI, the CPM, the SUCI, the JMM, the AAP, the Ama Odisha, the Samruddha Odisha, the Utkal Bharat, the Samata Kranti Dal(SKD), the Kalinga Sena and so on.
The parties like the JMM, the CPI,the CPM, the BSP, the Utkal Bharat and the Ama Odisha appear distinctly in the fray. Among these parties, only JMM has the strength to topple a district level apple cart in Mayurbhanj. During the 2012 PRI election, the JMM had bagged 10 ZP seats in Mayurbhanj and one ZP seat in Sundargarh district. After the Sudam Marandi -faction deserted the party to join BJD in 2014, the JMM has reconstituted itself with new leadership. Its alliance with BJP or INC could have given significant results in the above districts. But that did not happen. The JMM is facing a do or die situation in 2017 ZP poll, trying to capture at least 50 per cent of the ZP seats that it had obtained in 2012 ZP election. On the other side of struggle, if JMM fails, it could destablise one major player’s vote banks wherever it puts up ZP candidate.
After the JMM, the next focus remains concentrated on the poll behavior of the left parties which were once the alliance partners of BJD in 2009 Assembly poll. The left parties do not have the district level trend-upsetting capacities but have the strength in scattered ZP constituencies. The CPI had captured two seats in Ganjam last time and it might repeat performance in Ganjam again and open book in a few other places. Similarly, the CPM too made its presence felt in Ganjam last time. It is expected that the party can score success in Ganjam, Sundargarh and a few other places in 2017 ZP polls. SUCI is present in Jashipur constituency of Mayurbhanj district and is hoping for a few ZP seats. CPM liberation is expecting a ZP seat in Rayagada district. Another national party, BSP, is expecting a few seats too from the western Odisha.
While the Utkal Bharat has spread candidates in different districts, its success might be seen in Baleswar. On the other hand, the Ama Odisha Party has concentrated in Khandapada (Nayagarh) Assembly constituency where it is expecting a few ZP seats. It is a do- or- die situation for the AOP in Khandapada. SKD MlA George Tirkey has put a few ZP candidates in Sundargarh in the name of his own organization and is hoping success. It appears that he has distanced from SKD. Independent MlA of Champua Sanatan Mohakud has put up many candidates in Keonjhar. As he has shown his strength once in Keonjhar-municipality non-confidence motion, his efforts is worth examining.
There was talk of floating a new regional party before the 2017 PRI poll. But, neither such new regional outfit was born nor the small parties like the Utkal Bharat, the SKD, the Ama Odisha, the Samruddha Odisha etc could merge to float one party. Probably, the absence of coalition gesture by major political parties during the last 2014 Assembly poll and in 2017 ZP poll discouraged any new political formation in Odisha. The rise of BJP in the State is likely to squeeze the space of small parties.
