After withdrawal of nominations, eight candidates are in fray for Sundargarh Parliament constituency as per the information revealed by the Returning Officer-cum- Collector, Sundargarh, Rashmita Panda.
They are Jual Oram (BJP), George Tirkey (Congress), Sunita Biswal (BJD), Justin Lugun (SUCI), Basil Ekka (AAP), Dayanand Bhitria (Hindustan Nirman Dal), Justin Lakra (Independent) and Udit Chandra Amat (Independent).
Though total 11 candidates had filled nominations during scrutiny, one was rejected and two more withdrew from the fray.
According to the political pundits, this time in Sundargarh Parliament seat there will be a triangular fight between BJD, Congress and BJP. Last time, while in other parts of the State, the BJD had a clean sweep, but Oram of BJP had managed to win in a thin margin from the BJD candidate. But as of now, the Congress is in a beeter position than the BJD and the BJP candidates, feel political observers and in coming days it would be a tough job for Oram to retain his seat. Sources said in 2014 the total voters in Sundargarh Parliament constituency were 13,82,552 and number of votes polled were 10,08,946.
Out of that while BJP candidate Oram had got 3,40,508 votes, BJD’s Dilip Titkey had got 3,21,679 votes and Congress’s Hemananda Biswal had got 2,69,335 votes.
Interestingly, though total 12 candidates were in fray but NOTA had secured fourth position with 15,835 votes. This time the voters figure have gone to 15,00,932. So this time youth voters will play a vital role in result.
Similarly, this time there is every possibility of triangular fights in all the seven Assembly constituency of the district. As per the source while in Rourkela constituency total 10 candidates are in fray after withdrawal, it is nine in Raghunathpalli, four in Sundargarh, 13 in Rajgangpur, 8 in Biramitrapur, nine in Talsara and eight in Bonai Assembly constituency. While in Bonai the fight will be between CPI (M), BJD and Congress in all other seats it would be between BJD, BJP and Congress as in Bonai Congress has put candidate due to alliance.
In 2014 while Bonai seat was won by CPI (M), Rourkela seat was won by BJP, Rajgangpur and Raghunathpalli seats were won by BJD, Sundargarh and Talsara seats were won by Congress and Biramitrapur seat was won by Samata Kranti Dal.
