Cuttack: Polling is scheduled for April 29 in the Mahanga Assembly constituency of Cuttack district. Meanwhile, debates are going on here regarding the ticket hopefuls from various parties, the selection of candidates and the political moves.
This constituency comprises 37 panchayats of Mahanga block and 27 panchayats of Nischintakoili block.
The Mahanga Assembly constituency has been under the control of the BJD since 2000. While BJD candidate Sarat Kumar Kar won this seat in 2000, Bikram Keshari Barma of the same party won here in 2004.
After the restructuring of Assembly constituencies in 2009, the Kishannagar seat disappeared. The then MLA of Kishannagar, Pratap Jena, contested from Mahanga as a BJD candidate. He won in 2009 and 2014 from Mahanga.
The political situation here now is altogether different from the other constituencies in the state.
In 2009, Pratap Jena defeated his nearest rival Sheikh Matlub Ali of the Congress by 29,220 votes. In 2014 he defeated his nearest rival Independent Sharada Pradhan by 27,874 votes. Congress candidate Sheikh Matlub Ali came third with just 22,297 votes.
However, the position now is completely different. Many new faces have appeared this time in the Congress and the BJP.
Independent candidate Sharada Pradhan, who had given a close fight to the BJD in 2014, has now joined the saffron party. He was well known in Mahanga as a young BJD organiser. After developing differences of opinion with Pratap Jena he turned archrival of the latter.
Meanwhile, Sharada Pradhan has been organising political meetings in Mahanga by bringing Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and state-level leaders.
After former minister and senior Congress leader Sheikh Matlub Ali, who had steered the party from 1970, quit politics, many new faces like Debendra Sahu have appeared in the party.
Debendra happens to be the general secretary of the Private Bus Owners’ Association and is well-known in the Congress. He is also popular in Mahanga as an ardent supporter of Sheikh Matlub Ali.
During the 2000 elections, Debendra had differences with his mentor and abstained from politics for quite a long time. It is said the Congress faced defeat again and again here as the party avoided him from 2000.
Nowadays Debendra himself is steering the Congress in Mahanga. However, his main problem is the other disciple of Sheikh Matlub Ali, Pradipta Kumar Das, who is also the OPCC general secretary,
Pradipta is said to be in the race for the Congress ticket. Both the leaders are conducting parallel party meetings and programmes in the constituency.
On being asked about his candidature, Debendra said, “Getting the party ticket depends entirely on the high command. Earlier, I was in the party and I will always remain in it.”
He is confident of a direct fight between the Congress and the ruling BJD in the coming elections.
Pradipta is also quite sure of getting the Congress ticket. When asked what he would do if he doesn’t get the ticket he said, “I don’t answer such questions. I am closely associated with the Congress. I hope the party will repose faith in me.”
Coming to the BJP, Sharada Pradhan says, “My party is now strong in Mahanga. I cannot say as to who will get the party ticket, but I will work for whoever gets the ticket.”
It will certainly be a one-to-one fight between the BJP and the BJD, he asserted.
In the same vein, Sameer Samal, who was defeated in 2014 said, “I am hopeful of getting the BJP ticket. But I cannot say as to who will get it finally.”
Choudhury Pravat Mishra, the candidate who was defeated in 2009 said, “I stood by the party during hard times. I strengthened the BJP organisation in Mahanga during the 2017 panchayat elections. I have managed to create a challenge for the BJD. So I am hopeful of getting the party ticket.”
When asked what he would do if he doesn’t get the ticket, he said, “The question of me not getting the ticket doesn’t arise at all.”
There seems to be no new face coming up from the BJD in this constituency. It is learnt that the three time winner from this seat and former Speaker of the Assembly, Sarat Kumar Kar, is also lobbying for the ticket.
Although he has not clarified anything about his candidature he has said that the people still want him to represent the constituency.
In the same vein, sitting MLA Pratap Jena who is also a Cabinet Minister said, “Who gets the party ticket depends on the high command. The BJD has a very strong presence in Mahanga, and whoever contests from here will win with a big margin.”
2014 election results
Party Candidate Votes
BJD Pratap Jena 89,531
Ind Sharada Pardhan 61,657
Cong Sheikh Matlub Ali 22,297
BJP Sameer Kumar Samal 3,572
PNN