Bhadrak: With the date of the bypoll for the Dhamnagar Assembly constituency drawing near, campaigning by the major four candidates in the fray – Abanti Das (BJD), Suryavanshi Suraj (BJP), Baba Harekrushna Sethi (Congress) and Rajendra Das (Independent) is gathering pace. People of Odisha are keenly following the developments in the Dhamnagar constituency. Sources said Tuesday that voters in 13 panchayats will play a crucial role in deciding the fate of the candidates. They added votes of 25,000 people belonging to a minority community will also play an influential role.
Observers pointed out that the 13 panchayats that may play an important role are Talagopabindha, Baro, Kubera, Kanpada, Bodak, Bilana, Shyamsundarpur, Guamal, Achak, Talapada, Nayanada, Dolasahi and Paliabindha. All of them are under the Tihidi block. Abanti and Rajendra belong to Zone-7 of the Tihidi block. Figures from the last Assembly elections show that BJD got 2,766 votes against BJP’s 1,298 votes in Kanpada panchayat. However, this time around the BJD may not be able to obtain a sizeable lead, because Rajendra Das will split the votes for certain, analysts pointed out Tuesday. They also said that the fight will mainly be among the BJD, BJP and the Independent candidates.
In the 13 panchayats, the BJD had got 27,825 votes while the BJP got 20,815 votes. Whether the BJD can get such a healthy lead again will certainly depend on the Rajendra factor, sources said. The minority community voters also can tilt the balance in favour of a particular candidate. The NAC in Dhamnagar constituency has over 15,000 voters of minority community in 11 wards. The number of minority voters in Gudupokhari, Pandarbatia, Piteipur, Jafarpur and Bayangdihi panchayats is over 10,000. All political parties have been trying to woo these voters.