Bhubaneswar, Jan 23: The Congress has been improving its position in the Salipur assembly segment of Cuttack district.
Here, both the ruling BJD and BJP now are at loggerheads with each other. But the Congress is slowly coming back to its position. Therefore, It is expected that there will be a triangular fight in Salipur assembly segment in the forthcoming election.
Just before the 2019 election, former Congress MLA of Salipur, Prakash Behera had crossed over from Congress to BJP and the saffron party had fielded him as the party candidate. Therefore, the Congress party was naturally weakened in the area. Prakash had been elected as Congress nominee in 2014 from this assembly seat.
Now, Congress leader Aqub Khan is trying to change the political equation in the Salipur area. The old Congress organization has been active. Moreover, the Congress is trying to mobilize minority Muslim votes, which had been always a big factor in Salipur elections.
In the 2019 election, the Congress performed poorly in Salipur. Out of 1 lakh 85 thousand 123 voters, the Congress candidate had secured only about 2.98 percent votes.
BJD candidate Prashanta Behera had polled 1 lakh 4 thousand 154 votes and won the election. BJP candidate Prakash Behera had secured 71 thousand 944 votes while the Congress candidate Rabindranath Kar had been in third position with only 5 thousand 520 votes.
