Sourabha Kumar Parida
Bhubaneswar, May 23: Slum-dwellers are going to play a key role in deciding the fate of candidates of the three Assembly constituencies of Odisha capital, Bhubaneswar.
The vote of slum-dwellers had played a major role in 2019 general election and last Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) poll.
"Most of the educated and intellectual voters of Bhubaneswar city usually do not turn up to exercise their franchise. They only exercise their democratic right by discussion and debate with friends and colleagues. Besides, many residents of the city cast their votes in their native constituencies for which candidates are focusing on slums," said political observer Chidananda Jena adding that Bhubaneswar slums register around 70 percent voting in every electoral battle.
BJD's Bhubaneswar Central candidate Ananta Narayan Jena was seen campaigning at Sitapur slum in Nayapalli area last evening while BJP's Jagannath Pradhan was found in slums near Nicco Park.
Similarly, Bhubaneswar North BJD candidate Sushant Rout and BJP's Priyadarshi Mishra are frequenting Saliasahi slum. Besides, BJP MP and Bollywood actress Hemamalini had conducted a rally here followed by BJD leader VK Pandian.
The Bhubaneswar North constituency has 2.85 lakh voters this time while the number of voters in Saliasahi slum is more that 35,000 comprising ward no 16, 20, 21, 26 and a small portion of ward no 15. The three Bhubaneswar North candidates of BJP, BJD and Congress have focused on the votes of around 200 slums in the constituency with over 90,000 voters.
Similarly, slum-dwellers share around 70,000 votes out of 2.63 lakh votes of Bhubaneswar Ekamra constituency. There are 84 slums in the constituency and around 70 percent voting was recorded from slums in 2019 election.
BJD's Ashok Panda and BJP's Babu Singh are leaving no stone unturned to get their slum votes.
There are 148 slums in Bhubaneswar Central seat with over 48,000 voters. Last time, around 34,000 slum dwellers had exercised their franchise in the constituency. Their votes had played a major role in winning Ananta Jena by a small margin.
Expenditure observers have kept a close watch on movement of vehicles and suspicious people in the slums ahead of voting on May 25.
