Denied of tickets from Congress and BJD, three rebel candidates are in election fray this time in two Assembly segments of Jagatsinghpur district, Jagatsinghpur and Erasama-Balikuda.
Though the election is going to be held on April 17, the voters of these constituencies are perplexed like never before taking stock of the present political scenario and appearance of parties’ rebel aspirants.
To start with Congress’ Chiranjib Biswal and BJD’s Bishnu Das have again locked horns for Jagatsinghpur seat but the presence of a Congress rebel candidate Satya Brata Mohapatra in the fray might queer the former’s political pitch.
Mohapatra, a former Jagatsinghpur Municipality chairman, had a long association with the Congress as the district congress committee president. Though he lobbied for the ticket, the party chose Chiranjib Biswal again.
Political observers feel Mohapatra may spoil Biswal’s chances by dividing a sizeable numbers of Congress votes. The polls history indicates that in 2009 Assembly polls Biswal had secured 43.06 per cent votes against his BJD rival Bishnu Das’ 50.64 per cent. Hence, Biswal may not get all Congress votes as Mohapatra is in the fray this time.
Besides, an Independent Minority candidate Imama Uddin is in the fray this time, Uddin is also expected to smash the party’s minority vote bank, said the political observers.Similarly, both the BJD and the Congress are facing rebel menace in Balikuda- Erasama constituency.
In Balikuda- Erasama, a local Congress leader and three time Zilla Parishad member Sarada Jena has filed nomination for the seat against Congress official candidate former MlA Dr lalatendu Mohapatra.
Jena has substantial support in Erasama block while Dr Mohapatra, who hails from Balikuda block, is treated as an outsider in mutineer Jena’s land. As a result it may lead to division of the Congress votes in the segment.likewise, BJD rebel Raghu Nandan Das is all set to pose problem for BJD’s official candidate and sitting MlA Prashanta Muduli in the seat. Das had been aspiring for the seat since 2009.
According to political observes, Das has a good number of votes in the constituency. It was evident that he had fought the 2004 polls from the seat as an Independent candidate and garnered 35.03 per cent.The BJD had left the seat BJP under coalition compulsion. BJP candidate had to satisfy with onley 20.47 per cent votes while Congress candidate Umesh Swain grabbed the seat.
Das has a palpable influence in Balikuda- Erasama constituency and can spoil BJD candidate Muduli’s winning prospect, political pundits apprehend.