Balasore: With no new face in the race, candidates who have already contested from Balasore Lok Sabha constituency in 2019 are hopeful of getting tickets as 2024 elections draw near. The Balasore Lok Sabha segment comprises Balasore, Jaleswar, Bhog rai, Basta, Remuna and Nilagiri Assembly segments. The neighbouring Badasahi Assembly segment in Mayurbhanj district also comes under the Balasore Lok Sabha seat. Rumours are rife as to who the BJD, the BJP and the Congress will field for the upcoming polls. In 2019, BJP’s Pratap Sarangi was elected as the MP from this north Odisha constituency.
Fondly addressed as ‘Nana’, he went on to become a minister in the Narendra Modi-led government. Sarangi is popular among the masses for his austerity and simple lifestyle. However, his absence in the constituency during the Covid-19 pandemic and inability to carry out development works led to a decline in his popularity, according to political analysts. Earlier, there was speculation that the BJP might nominate Union Railways and Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw from Balasore.
Now, however, it will not happen as Vaishnaw has filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha. In 2019, Sarangi got around 4,83,858 votes to emerge a winner. Keeping in mind his popularity, it is expected that the BJP may field him again if the saffron party fails to find the right candidate. In 2014, Rabindra Kumar Jena, an engineer by profession, was elected as MP from Balasore on a BJD ticket.
However, in 2019 he lost to Sarangi by a margin of 13,000 votes. Despite the BJD emerging victorious in four of the seven Assembly segments, Jena could not capitalise on the situation. However, despite the setback, there is indication that the BJD may field him again, sources said. Rumours are also flying that Jena may withdraw from the fray as his wife is expected to contest from the Basta Assembly constituency as a BJD candidate.
Usually, the BJD does not nominate two members from the same family to contest elections. Hence, if Jena’s wife contests, there is a possibility that the BJD will look for someone else to contest from Balasore. There is also no clear picture of the nomination of candidates by Congress. In 2009, Srikant Jena won as a Congress candidate from this constituency and was appointed as a Union minister. However, he received only 2.78 lakh votes in the 2014 elections and was pushed to the third position. The situation worsened in 2019 when Congress candidate Nabajyoti Patnaik got only 1.80 lakh votes. In such circumstances, with the vote bank rapidly dwindling, Congress is at a loss to find a good candidate.
