Pallahara: Elections are scheduled for April 23 in Angul district’s five Assembly seats including Pallahara.
The Pallahara Assembly seat which falls in the Dhenkanal Lok Sabha constituency has 27 panchayats in Pallahara block and 19 panchayats in Kaniha block.
The election here has raised heat in political circles as this is the constituency of Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, and the place from where he started his political career. This Assembly seat belongs to the general category.
The seat has become important even though Pradhan is not contesting from here. The stakes are high for the Union minister as ensuring the victory of the BJP is a matter of prestige for him.
The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has not announced any candidate from the seat so far, although it had won the seat in the last two elections. The BJD is quite hopeful, and is aiming for a third win in the coming polls.
The Congress is also planning to grab the seat although its position is weaker than that of the BJD and the BJP.
Voters are likely to go for local candidates as candidates from Talcher have been winning this seat since long.
The Pallahara Assembly seat which was earlier a Congress bastion was snatched by the BJD-BJP alliance in 2000. BJP candidate Dharmendra Pradhan won from this seat then.
The seat again came into Congress hands in 2004. BJD’s Rabi Narayan Pani won in 2009, and its Mahesh Sahoo won in the 2014 elections.
This time too Mahesh is hopeful of being nominated as the BJD candidate and of winning this seat. But he is facing trouble in party circles as voters and the party want a local candidate in this seat.
Moreover, there is a long list of hopefuls in the BJD. Former MLA Rabi Narayan Pani, senior leader Jagmohan Pradhan, youth leader Sandip Pradhan and former block chairperson Sudarshan Behera are in the race for party tickets.
Former block chairperson Khirodri Behera is also in the ticket race after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced 33 per cent reservation for women candidates.
But it will not be easy for the BJD to win the seat this time regardless of the candidate.
The infighting, the weak organisational ability of the sitting MLA, his disputes with two block presidents and the debacle the party faced in the last panchayat elections will make this election an uphill task for the BJD.
Moreover, local voters might turn against the BJD as the state government has failed to resolve the problems of villagers displaced by the Samal and Rengali barrages.
MLA Mahesh Sahoo said he has the support of local people and that the party will give him another opportunity to serve the public. He added that he will abide by the party’s decision.
Rabi Narayan Pani said he is hopeful of getting the party ticket as he has done a good job in the area, and that he will abide by the decision of the party.
Meanwhile, the BJP has re-nominated its state executive body member Ashok Mohanty for the seat although he was defeated last time. Party leaders said the success of the party in the panchayat elections will help it in this election.
Mohanty said he had been with the people of Pallahara for the last 10 years and has always tried to do his best for them.
But all is not well for him as Pallahara block chairperson Mukesh Kumar Pal who was eyeing the BJP ticket might upset his apple cart. Everything depends on Mukesh coming out in support of Ashok and supporting him.
The Congress has announced the name of youth leader Subrat Gadnaik as its candidate. Senior Congress leader Fakir Samal and the 2014 party candidate Subodh Pani were denied tickets by the high command.
The possibility of Subrat winning from this seat depends on his ability to win over these two sulking leaders.
Subrat said he has worked for strengthening the party in this constituency and is hopeful of winning.
PNN