The major contestants for the Dhenkanal Assembly polls are BJP nominee Krushna Chandra Patra, BJD nominee Saroj Samal and Congress nominee Sidheswari Prasad Mishra. There are 11 candidates in fray and the polls will be held on April 17.
Krushna Patra was elected as the MlA from Dhenkanal as a BJP-BJD candidate in 2000. Patra lost his seat to Congress nominee Sudhir Kumar Samal in 2004.Again in 2009, he was defeated by NCP nominee Nabin Nanda. Patra got defeated due to failure of a BJP-BJD alliance and delimitation of the Dhenkanal Sadar and Gondia Assembly constituencies.
But this time, Patra appears to be in a better position as the nominees of the BJD and the Congress got their respective party tickets too late. He had an extra length of time to keep public contact.Besides, Patra has kept the BJP organisation intact for the last 10 years despite repeated defeats in the elections. Moreover, Naba Kishore Guru, Krushna Patra, Naresh Mohapatra and Rama Chandra Patra of the BJP are well known among people as the pioneers of anti-Enzen agitation.
The agitation was held to stop privatisation of Cesco an exploitation of the electricity consumers.Saroj Samal is a former BJD MlA of Gondia. He could not get a BJD ticket in 2009 as the BJD entered into a pre-poll pact with the NCP.All the elected NCP MlAs, although merged themselves with the BJD, but this time Housing Corporation Chairman Saroj Samal was again picked up as the BJD nominee for Dhenkanal Assembly seat in place of Nanda.
Samal has no influence in Dhenkanal Municipality votes where the BJD had own only in five councils out 23 despite campaigning of Health Minister Damodar Rout, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and several other high-profile leaders. Most of the Gondia voters are also not happy with Samal because he failed to keep his commitments last time.
A dejected Nanda, who has been denied ticket, may not work for Samal whole-heartedly. Still, Samal is hopeful of having a smooth sail with the Naveen Patnaik wave.Sidhewari Prasad Mishra, who has been fielded as the Congress nominee from Dhenkanal Assembly constituency is facing internal rivalry in the district unit.But the possibility of his wining cannot be ruled out as he has a strong organisation of his own simultaneously in Gondia and Dhenkanal town.
Sources said Mishra had secured around 30,000 votes as Congress nominee from Gondia Assembly constituency in 2000. In 2004, he was suspended from the Congress as he had contested from Gondia as a rebel against Congress nominee Amar Jyoti Singh Deo.
Mishra had secured around 25,000 votes then. later, he had joined BJD and subsequently emerged as the State youth president of Pyarimohan Mohapatra’s Odisha Jan Morcha (OJM). However, despite having been declared as an official candidate by the OJM for Dhenkanal, he crossed over to the Congress at the last moment and was fielded as a candidate.
The Congress too was in a quandary over selection of a suitable candidate for the seat and had delayed much to declare its nominee. Mishra seized the opportunity and managed to obtain a ticket.
The other contestants Kamakhya Prasad Bihari of BSP, Saroj Kumar Satpathy of Samata Kranti Dal, Arun Kumar Sahoo, Independent, Bibhu Prasad Sahoo, Independent, Ranjan Kumar Naik, Independent, and Sk Abdul Wali, Independent, may not perform well as they have no mass base here.
However, Sisir Kumar Satpathy of AAP and Sadasiv Mohapatra of the Aama Odisha Party may manage to divert the BJD and Congress votes, respectively.