Sambalpur is the headquarters of western Odisha with all the important offices, educational institutions and socio-cultural organiaations here.
The Sambalpur Assembly constituency bears further importance as many important leaders like Sriballav Panigrahi, Dr Sradhakar Supakar, Murari Prasad Mishra and Durga Shankar Patnaik got elected from here earlier. Most of them became the Ministers in several important portfolios.
In the ensuing elections also, a good number of candidates are in the fray. All the important political parties and even a good number of Independent candidates are contesting from this prestigious constituency. But the fight, as is seen, is triangular. Even some independent candidates are supposed to bag good number of votes in their favour.
Sitting MlA Jayanarayan Mishra of the BJP has a strong grip in the constituency with dedicated workers. Being a three-time MlA, Mishra has stepped up his efforts for a fourth-time win.Mishra’s problem is that people are not satisfied with his performance during last 14 year-long tenure. He was a former Transport Minister.
And the Sambalpur bus stand is perhaps the worst one in the State. The municipality was headed by BJP with Mishra’s henchmen as chairmen for last two times. But the performance of BJP in Sambalpur civic body is well known to each and every tax payer. Congress candidate Sureswar Mishra is also a senior legal practitioner in Sambalpur. He is a front line leader for High Court bench agitation. He also contested the general elections in 2009 under Congress’ banner, but got defeated from BJP by a margin of 6,000 votes.
But this time, he is putting his best foot forward for a victory. “Congress has got a good number of sympathisers everywhere in the State including Sambalpur. Support and blessings of the people of Sambalpur will bring sure victory for me,” says Mishra, adding, “People here are also disgusted with the ruling BJD and the sitting MlA of BJP. Hence, the Congress is the only alternative before them,” he says further expecting for a victory.
Kalpana Sahu is a woman candidate from Aama Odisha Party. She is moving from door-to-door to gather support. The specialty of Sahu is that she knows most of the tribal languages spoken by Munda, Oram and other tribal communities. During her visit, she is talking to the voters in their dialect instead of Sambalpuri or even Odia language . And this is an added attraction for the voters. But time will say how much votes she will bag through this formula.
Prof (Dr) Raseswari Panigrahi is totally new to politics but a candidate from the ruling party BJD. She, unlike others, made no efforts to get the ticket from the ruling party; rather the ‘most coveted BJD ticket’ came to her. The popularity of Dr Panigrahi when in service and even after retirement from the VSS Medical College Hospital would help her win the elections, say political observers.
BJD has got a thin presence in Sambalpur district. At one point of time, this party didn’t have a councilor in the Sambalpur Municipality. But things have changed later. Dr Panigrahi’s credibility as a gynaecologist is well recognised and appreciated everywhere. There are people who also extend spontaneous support to her. People compare her with Dr Sradhakar Supakar, the former MlA and an educationist. As a non political lady, she is also well accepted everywhere.