Khaira: With only six days to go for the 4th phase of polling, election fever has gripped the Simulia Assembly constituency in Balasore district.
Altogether five candidates are in the fray for this seat. They are: sitting MLA and ruling BJD candidate Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi; three times ex-MLA Padma Lochan Panda, who was then a Congress candidate but now contesting on a BJP ticket; Ananta Prasad Sethi of Congress; Pruthviraj Das of Bahujan Samaj Party and Gangadhar Das of Purbanchal Janata Party. Their political fate will be decided April 29.
Though the contest is mainly between BJD and BJP, Congress is trying its luck to garner as many votes as possible. While bike rallies and star campaigners addressing meetings are a common sight in the constituency, the issues the contenders are raising are different. When candidates of major political parties are finding fault with each other and attacking one another in their election campaigns, the nominees of other parties are stressing local issues to seek votes.
BJP candidate Padma Lochan Panda claims, even though he had left Congress and joined the saffron camp, many Congress workers are still supporting his candidature. Apart from visiting the villages under Simulia Assembly constituency and campaigning, he is also strengthening his position by bringing in political workers from other parties.
Incidents like the homecoming of Gajendra Das to BJP camp and joining of BJD leaders Jajati Das and Santosh Satpathy in the saffron party have encouraged the BJP workers.
Meanwhile, BJD candidate Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi has visited 59 panchayats under Khaira and Simulia blocks. He is trying to get closer to the electorate through bike rallies, street-corner meetings and interactions with workers. It is believed that BJD is playing the women’s card in this Assembly constituency.
Moreover, Sashi Sahu, a veteran BJP leader who recently joined BJD, has been appointed as the state BJD general secretary. Similarly, the joining of some more local BJP leaders like Prabhat Biswal and Sukadev Panda has boosted the morale of the workers of the regional party workers. After the election meeting of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at Patirajpur, party workers have become more active.
Coming on to the Congress, Ananta Prasad Sethi is also aggressively campaigning in the Simulia constituency segment, banking upon his past experience. He has included local stalwarts like Rabindra Satpathy, Sarat Das, Rajendra Jena, Upendra Sahoo, Basant Patra, Naresh Biswal, Ramachandra Satpathy, Banamali Biswal, in his core campaigning team.
With the effort of these leaders, Sethi he is trying to bring back party workers into Congress fold, particularly those who had left the party and joined BJP. As he himself belongs to the Khaira block, he is banking upon issues pertaining to ‘Khaira Swabhiman’, in his election campaign. Congress is also hopeful of getting votes from its traditional vote banks in many specific panchayats.
Bahujan Samaj Party candidate Pruthviraj Das is campaigning in villages with the local youths. The other candidate Gangadhar Das of Purbanchal Janata Party has adopted similar strategies, despite trailing behind his contenders.
PNN