The Mahanga Assembly constituency is all set to witness a triangular fight among the BJD’s incumbent MlA Pratap Jena, the Congress’ Sheikh Matlub Ali and Independent candidate Sarada Prasad Pradhan in the April 17 polls.
Pradhan is contesting as an Independent as he was reportedly denied tickets by both the BJD and the Congress. He has got ‘Coconut’ symbol. He is expected to get votes from the two parties, besides his own.
According to political analysts, BJD candidate Jena is unlikely to get the number of votes he garnered in the last election as a rift still persists in among the party’s two groups in the constituency. Pradhan is poised to be a major obstacle against him, the political observers feel. According to them a sizeable number of BJD workers in the area are supporting Pradhan taking shelter under the protection of Baijayant Panda, BJD candidate for the Kendrapada lok Sabha seat.
Congress candidate Ali is trying his best to woo the voters. A major setback he has suffered is that his party leader Sarat Kar switched over to the BJD recently. Seven more candidates are also contesting from the seat. They are Samir Samal(BJP), Bhaskar Chandra Swain (AAP), Rakshi Agrawal(CPI), lakhmidhar Jena(BSP), Amar Nayak (OJP), lakhmidhar Sahu (SKD) and Mihir Ranjan Jena (Ind).