This time, the ruling BJD is fighting elections in Jagatsinghpur lok Sabha seat on its own symbol. Due to coalition arrangement, it had left the seat to the CPI in 2009 elections and the BJD backed CPI candidate Bibhu Prasad Tarai had won the seat.
Congress after being unable to field a suitable party candidate later fielded sitting Member of Parliament (MP) Tarai, who crossed over from the CPI and joined the Congress recently.In its failure to get a suitable candidate after a long search, the BJP had to nominate its former candidate Baidhar Mallick. Mallick had got the third position in 2009 Parliament elections.
Besides, candidates from BSP, CPI and AAP have fielded candidates for the seat taking the total number of contestants including the Independent to seven.Jagatsinghpur lok Sabha constituency was created in 1977 after it was carved out from the Puri Parliament seat. Pradyumna Bal of the Janata Party had been elected to the Parliament in the first elections by securing about 57 per cent of votes against his Congress rival.
After that, the choice of the voters fluctuated between Congress and non Congress candidates. The Congress has the credit of winning from this constituency four times in 1980, 1984, 1996 and 1998, while the CPI emerged victorious in 1989, 1991 and 2009, Janata Party once in 1977 and BJD twice in 1999 and 2004.
After BJD and BJP parted ways in 2009, the BJD gave the seat to its new alliance CPI which got the seat defeating Congress candidate Ravindra Sethy by a margin of 76,735 votes. The BJD backed CPI candidate Bibhu Prasad Tarai had secured 4, 57,234 votes and rival Congress candidate had got 3, 80,499 votes, while BJP’s Baidhar Mallick had got 99,085 votes in the 2009 elections.
The BJP made its appearance in the 1991 lok Sabha polls in Jagatsinghpur. In 1999 and 2004 elections, the BJP had not fielded any candidate for the seat due to coalition compulsion with the BJD. But in 2009, the BJP had fielded Mallick. While the CPI votes have been dwindling, the BJP vote share has been increasing steadily here. This time, the party has expected to do well, thanks to the Modi magic.
After 1991 elections, the Congress had sponsored Ranjib Biswal for the seat who won the seat two times in a row, but he could not complete his tenure following premature dissolution of the lok Sabha in 1996 and 1998. later, the cricketer cum politician had lost the elections to BJD’s Trilochan Kaunongo in 1999 and late Brahamananda Panda in 2004.
After delimitation of the lok Sabha constituency, Jagatsinghpur seat came under reserved category in 2009 for which Congress fielded former Minister Ravindra Sethy for the seat against CPI’s Tarai.
Sources added that candidate selection had become a herculean task for both the Congress and BJD this time. They had found no suitable candidates from among the aspirants. As a result, the BJD fielded Dr Kulamani Samal for the seat, while the Congress had to make do with Tarai.