Bhubaneswar, April 30: The Jajpur Lok Sabha constituency in Odisha has been a traditional stronghold of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD). Candidates from the regional outfit have consistently won elections in Jajpur since 1999. However, the upcoming elections present an interesting scenario.
In the 2019 elections, the BJP candidate, Amiya Kanta Mallick, had polled more than 4.42 lakh votes in Jajpur but was defeated by a margin of a little over one lakh votes. This time, the BJP has changed its candidate and fielded Rabindra Narayan Behera, a well-known figure in the field of Information Technology who retired as the director of the Odisha unit of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) in 2019. Behera, belongs to Rajendrapur panchayat under the Bari Assembly seat,
Joined the BJP after his retirement, Behera expresses confidence that the party’s vote base has grown in the constituency, and the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will further strengthen the performance.
Despite BJD’s solid base, the party’s internal dynamics in Jajpur district appear to be in disarray. The party has dropped two sitting MLAs: Sunanda Das from Bari and Amar Prasad Satpathy from Barchana. Satpathy, a six-time MLA from Barchana, has been replaced
Additionally, former Korei MLA and actor Akash Das Nayak has joined the BJP and is now the saffron party’s candidate from the seat.
Furthermore, the BJD has fielded Sujata Sahu from Jajpur, as sitting MLA Pranab Prakash Das, the Organisational Secretary of BJD is contesting the Lok Sabha election from Sambalpur Lok Sabha seat.
The grand old party Congress, on the other hand, has fielded veteran leader Anchal Das, a former MP from the seat. Anchal’s candidature has set the stage for a triangular contest in the constituency.
It will be interesting to see how the electoral dynamics play out in Jajpur during the upcoming elections, especially with the BJP making significant efforts to challenge the BJD’s stronghold
