The Brahmagiri Assembly constituency is all set to witness a tough fight between sitting MlA and BJD candidate Sanjay Kumar Dasburma and Congress veteran lalatendu Bidyadhar (lulu) Mahapatra in the April 17 polls.
This time the situation seems to be like a do-or-die one. It is evident from the fact that the two arch rivals have extensively campaigned for themselves. Dasburma had won the 2009 polls defeating Mahapatra by less than 5,000 votes.
While lalatendu conducted road shows and rallies, Dasburma is depended on public meetings addressed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and special campaigns involving Ollywood star Anubhav Mohanty.
Mahapatra, who had won the seat thrice earlier, is leaving no stone unturned to win the seat this time. Despite having some physical weaknesses, he moved extensively in the constituency to regain confidence of his political followers. He is optimistic this time as a majority of his old companions have returned to the Congress and conducted electioneering in the area for his favour.
On the other hand, Dasburma is banking on the popularity of Naveen Patnaik and all development work done in the constituency during his tenure. Naveen Patnaik, meanwhile, has addressed a number of public meetings in the constituency in his favour.
BJP candidate Debendranath Tarei seems to be posing a threat to the prospects of Sanjay. After being denied of a ticket, Tarei switched over to BJP. He is likely to eat into a sizeable number of BJD votes amidst the NaMo wave.There are six candidates, including lone ONK candidate Saraswati Biswal, in the fray for the seat. The constituency has a total 1,84,683 electorates including 90,238 women voters.
The political pundits opine that electorates of eleven Gam Panchayats those were included in to Brahmagiri from Puri Sadar during the last reorganisation of the constituency would decide the fate of Dasburma and Mahapatra this time.