Bhubaneswar, April, 11: In the current election, the BJD has taken a different approach in candidate selection for the Baragarh Lok Sabha seat. The ruling party chose Parineeta Mishra, wife of former BJP Bargarh district vice-president Susanta Mishra, to contest the seat. Parineeta’s announcement as the BJD candidate sparked resentment among some BJD leaders, including former MP Prabhas Kumar Singh.
Interestingly, both the BJD and BJP have never repeated a candidate in the three elections since the constituency’s creation after the 2008 delimitation. BJD veteran Prasanna Acharya is not interested in the Lok Sabha election
Despite changing candidates, voter behavior remains unpredictable. This might explain why the BJP replaced sitting MP Suresh Pujari and fielded him from the Brajrajnagar Assembly segment, which falls within the Lok Sabha seat boundaries. Pujari had previously contested unsuccessfully from the same assembly seat in 2009.
The Congress, on the other hand, has nominated former MP Sanjay Bhoi for the seat. Bhoi, who won the seat in 2009, is targeting Kulta votes by appealing to voters of the same caste. Additionally, Bhoi is the son of Krupasindhu Bhoi, a four-time MP from the Sambalpur Lok Sabha seat who also won from the Padampur assembly segment twice
