Udayagiri: Even as the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidate Saluga Pradhan was elected to the state Assembly from the G. Udayagiri Assembly seat but the decline in the vote share for the party in this constituency has further deepened the fissures among the party leaders and workers, a report said.
The ruling party candidate Saluga defeated his nearest Congress rival Shyamghana Pradhan by a margin of 11,261 votes from this Assembly seat which has been a BJD citadel. It has been over a week since the results of the elections were declared but the party leaders keep blaming each other for the decline in vote share in the notified area council (NAC) of G. Udayagiri. Chatters were also abuzz over the issue in the area.
Saluga pooled 1,801 votes from all the seven booths under the civic body while his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rival Archana Pradhan received 2,011 votes and the Congress candidate Shyamaghana got 816 votes. The sudden rise in BJP’s vote share in the civic body area has stunned the ruling party leaders.
The party leaders apprehend that it might be the handiwork of some dissidents within the party said, Gopal Mohapatra, one of the ardent supporters of the newly elected MLA. He alleged that people within the party supported the rival party candidate and tried to defeat the incumbent MLA.
He questioned how the party’s MLA nominee could receive fewer votes when the party’s MP candidate got more votes in the civic body area. He said the actual reason behind decline in vote share could be ascertained if the party leaders discuss about it in the party forum.
PNN