Ghasipura: This Assembly segment in Keonjhar district is one of the important and hyper-sensitive constituencies in the state. The seat, known as a BJD bastion, is likely to see a titanic clash between two heavy weights – BJD’s Badri Narayan Patra and OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik.
The seat, comprising 26 panchayats under this block and 26 panchayats under Ghatagaon block, is reserved for the general category. For the coming elections, the administration has made arrangements for 300 polling booths. Of them, 69 have been identified as sensitive and 28 as hyper-sensitive.
The ruling party has been holding this prestigious seat since 2009. BJD legislator and school and mass education minister Badri Narayan Patra had clinched victory by a huge margin of over 88,000 votes by defeating his nearest rival, the BJP’s Satyabrat Panda in 2014.
It is said that the BJD has no matching alternative to Patra here, but youth leader Raja Chakra is said to be lobbying for party ticket. Patra has been keeping his fingers crossed for the third win, if given ticket this time.
On the other hand, OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik is expected to contest from the seat this time too. However, names of Patnaik and district unit secretary Ratikant Baral have been recommended to the state level screening committee.
The BJP has been trying to broaden its base in this Assembly segment, but multiple ticket aspirants might create problems for the saffron party.
The front runner for the BJP ticket is party’s executive member Pruthiraj Kunar. In the 2014 election, he had contested on a Congress ticket.
Congress base in this constituency has weakened since the party’s debacle in 2009. Pruthiraj had tried his best to improve the party base much before 2014 but in vain.
Sensing the keenness of Niranjan Patnaik to contest from the seat, Pruthiraj has already crossed over to the BJP to secure his place. In the last election, BJP was in second position. This time, BJP supporters are enthused over the prospects of the party’s good performance.
In the last panchayat elections, MLA Sanatan Mahakud and his supporters had tacitly supported the Congress nominee to undermine the support base of Badri Narayan Patra, but they had failed in their attempt.
The names doing the rounds as ticket aspirants for the seat are: BJD’s Badrinarayan Patra, Congress’s Niranjan Patnaik and Ratikant Baral, BJP’s Pruthiraj Kunar, youth leader Jajna Prasad Sahu, lawyer Bichitra Kumar Chakra, Santosh Rout, Satyabrat Panda and Professor Sanat Kumar Rath.
In view of organisational strength, the BJD is well entrenched, but winning back the seat could be a prestigious issue for Niranjan. Interestingly, Niranjan is said to have set his eyes on Bhandaripokhari Assembly seat. If Niranjan contests from Bhandaripokhari, the main fight will be between the BJD and the BJP here.
However, BJP infighting could be a spoiler for Pruthiraj. If he is fielded as BJP nominee, he could face fury of his opponents in the party. Many grassroots workers do not accept his leadership.
Given this situation, the political scenario for the BJP is not clear.
This time, the ruling party will try to retain its clout.
Exuding hope about his electoral success, Patra said, “BJD organisation has been strong at the grassroots while a lot of developmental projects have been completed. We will definitely register win.”
Pruthiraj said his party will win the seat on the wave of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity.
The number of voters in the constituency is 2, 17,575 including
1,97,231 females.
2014 POLL RESULTS
Party Candidate votes
BJD Badrinarayan Patra 1, 08, 900
BJP Satyabrat Panda 20, 298
Cong Pruthiraj Kunar 12, 018