Jajpur: There are 61 candidates in the fray under the Jajpur Parliamentary constituency and its seven Assembly segments. The final list of candidates was released by the district administration Friday after the end of the period for withdrawal of nominations.
The two BSP candidates, Ashok Kumar Jena and Ajaya Kumar Mallick, have withdrawn their papers from the Jajpur Lok Sabha seat and Binjharpur (reserved) Assembly seat respectively. The district administration has declared invalid the candidatures of four candidates.
The 12 candidates who are in the final list will play a critical role in the constituency.
As per the final list, there are eight candidates in the Jajpur Lok Sabha (reserved) seat, five candidates in the Binjharpur Assembly seat, seven candidates each in Bari and Barchana Assembly seats, 10 in Dharmashala seat, six in Jajpur Assembly seat, seven in Korei Assembly seat and 11 in Sukinda Assembly seat.
There are five Independent candidates this time in industrially developed Sukinda. In the 2014 Assembly election there was a tough fight between the BJD and the BJP here. BJD candidate Pritiranjan Ghadai had defeated his Congress rival Sarat Rout by a margin of 4,704 votes.
In the previous election there were 14 candidates, of which six were Independents. They together polled 20,614 votes. Ghadai polled 58,122 votes and Rout secured 53,418 votes.
Pradeep Balasamant, who was an Independent in the 2014 Assembly election, secured 17,927 votes. This year he is contesting as a BJP candidate from the Assembly seat.
This time the number of votes for the Congress is likely to decrease as some of its frontline leaders have joined the BJD.
Assembly constituencies like Bari, Dharmashala and Jajpur have one Independent candidate each while Assembly constituencies like Barchana and Korei have two Independents each.
These Independents are not from any rebel groups. They are trying to grab votes on the basis of their own competence.
Political observers say that although the real fight in all Assembly seats will be between the BJD and the BJP, Independents may tilt the balance.