The Parjang Assembly constituency will go to polls in the third phase on April 23. The seat was created in 2014 by craving it out of the erstwhile Pallahara constituency and adding to it a few areas from the Kamakhyanagar seat.
Parjang and Kamakhayanagar are neighbouring areas within Dhenkanal district while Pallahara is in Angul district.
With Pallahara gone, veteran leader and sitting BJD MLA and Transport Minister Nrusingha Charan Sahu has had an unenviable position.
While Congress is not having a credible leader so far in the area, with its nominees getting changed since 2000, BJP no doubt is a force to reckon with. BJP’s organisation was made strong in the area when Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan contested his debut poll and won it in 2000. Then of course, Parjang was under the Pallahara Assembly seat.
An interesting strategy of canvassing for votes for Pradhan and Sahu had been while before the delimitation, Sahu, a native of Parjang, had to face anti-campaigning as an outsider in Pallahara, after the delimitation, Pradhan who belongs to Talcher, faced a similar situation in Parjang. However, since 2009, the BJP has been nominating an old guard, Bibhuti Pradhan, who has so far been contesting polls unsuccessfully.
Both the BJP and the BJD have re-nominated Bibhuti and Sahu, Respectively, from the seat this time, while Congress is yet to make its choice open. The BJD repeated Sahu who still has a lot of fan following, considering his experience and the long period he has been representing the area. Needless to say, he has his pocket votes.
The BJD is facing charges of corruption and nepotism. Besides, Parjang as a backward area with tribal, SCs, STs and OBCs comprising a major chunk of voters, has not witnessed much of development all these years. Pradhan will get advantage of anti-incumbency against Sahu; and it all depends how he capitalises it.