Bhubaneswar, April 20: The Congress party may play crucial role in 70 Assembly seats of Odisha with its traditional vote bank.
The grand old party had performed well in 62 seats with securing second position in 31 constituencies. The party won nine seats out of 147 constituencies of Odisha Assembly.
The Congress is strategically fielding candidates at the seats it had gave tough contest to the winning ones during last election.
The party may not win these seats but it will play a significant role in the fate of BJP and BJD candidates by influencing their vote share, say political experts.
The anti-government votes get divided between BJP and Congress which benefits the ruling party BJD. This time, it depends on the strategy of opposition party candidates. Both the BJP and BJD have started to woo traditional votes of Congress, opined experts.
Congress' Khariar MLA Adhiraj Panigrahi is going to contest on BJD ticket this time after awitching party. The grand old party had secured over 59,000 votes last time in the constituency. This time, the party's traditional vote bank will play a crucial role in the poll battle.
The situation is very similar in Jatni. Party veteran Suresh Kumar Routray is not contesting this time. Besides, the party has expelled him for six years on charges of anti-party activities. However, Jatni is called the home turf of Congress. Routray had pocketed over 68,000 votes in 2019. The party vote bank will also decide the fate of Jatni Assembly constituency and Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat contenders.
In Balangir, the party has replaced MLA Narasingha Mishra'a ticket by his son Samarendra Mishra. Narasingha Mishra had won the seat consecutively in 2014 and 2019 amid BJD wave across the state securing over 61,000 and 71,000 votes in the two elections respectively.
Another party veteran Tara Prasad Bahinipati won the Jeypore seat in 2019 pocketing over 59,000 votes. The party is very likely to win the seat in 2024.
Similarly, the party has won six times in Mohana seat of Gajapati district. Ramesh Jena had won Sanakhemundi seat in 2009 and 2019. The party has fielded him this time too.
The Congress has won six times from Rajgangpur and the party has repeated 2019 winner CS Rajan Ekka.
In 2024, Kantabanji seat will witness a new political fight as BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is going to contest in the Congress bastion. Congress leader Santosh Singh Saluja has won the seat four times.
The Congress had also won Cuttack-Barabati seat in 2019 along with securing over 30,000 votes in Basudevpur, Bhandaripokhari, Soro, Bhogarai, Basta, Banki, Kendrapara, Aul, Rajnagar, Paradip, Balikuda-Erasama, Jagatsinghpur, Kakatpur, Nimapada, Begunia, Rayagada, Laxmipur, Kotapad, Koraput, Pottangi and several other seats. Besides, the party had lost many seats with low margin.
