Bhubaneswar, April 2: Kharabela Swain, a former MP and senior BJP leader, has found himself in a challenging situation. Despite being denied the party ticket, he remains hopeful of securing the BJP ticket for the Balasore Lok Sabha seat.
The BJP has already granted the party ticket to the sitting MP, Pratap Chandra Sarangi, who is gearing up for the upcoming election.
Initially, Kharabela Swain declared his intention to contest the election as an Independent candidate. However, he has since reconsidered his stance.
Swain now appeals to the party high command to rethink Pratap Sarangi’s candidature. He suggests that Pratap Sarangi should be fielded in his traditional seat in the Nilagiri assembly constituency. Notably, Pratap Sarangi has previously won this seat twice—in 2004 and 2009—before being elected to the Lok Sabha from Balasore in 2019.
Swain also proposes that Pratap Sarangi could be considered as the party’s MP candidate for the Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat.
In light of these circumstances, Kharabela Swain humbly requests the party high command to consider his appeal and allow him to contest from the Balasore Lok Sabha seat as a BJP candidate. Swain has a strong track record, having been consecutively elected three times (1998, 1999, and 2000) as a BJP candidate from the Balasore constituency.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Kharabela contested from the Kandhamal seat but was defeated by BJD’s Achyut Samanta, despite securing more than 3 lakh votes.
Swain’s determination and political history make this an interesting development to watch as the election season unfolds
