The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) appears confident of retaining the Pipili Assembly constituency, which goes to a by-election on Thursday to fill up the vacancy caused by the death of the ruling party’s incumbent MLA Pradeep Maharathy. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has, however, given a good fight and is expected to poll a respectable count of votes. The Congress is running a poor third in the race.

The BJD, which has perhaps the strongest organisational base in the constituency, is hopeful of its victory mainly on the strength of its supremo Naveen Patnaik’s image plus a sympathy factor for its candidate Rudra Pratap Maharathy, the son of Pradeep Maharathy.  A distinctive feature of the election campaign was that Naveen Patnaik abstained from it both physically and virtually. On the other hand, from the BJP, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and party national spokesperson Sambit Patra chose to visit the area to campaign for their candidate Ashrit Patnaik.

Sambit Patra has a stake in this Assembly segment since it is part of the Puri Lok Sabha constituency, where he was defeated in the 2019 elections by a small margin of votes and from where he is expected to contest again in 2024.

The Congress, which has fielded Bishwokeshan Harichandan Mohapatra as its nominee, is hamstrung by its shrinking support base in the constituency. Not many of the party’s prominent leaders campaigned for the candidate.  The results of the by-poll hold significance in view of the panchayat and urban local body elections to be held next year.