Padampur stares at a three-cornered fight

The contest would likely be triangular between the BJP, the BJD, and the Congress, with candidates from three different generations being nominated.

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As the date of the Padampur By-poll is approaching, all three major political parties, BJD, BJP, and Congress have intensified their campaign. All 13 candidates in the fray filed their nominations on the last day, nominations of two independent candidates were rejected after scrutiny. 

 

The contest would likely be triangular between the BJP, the BJD, and the Congress, with candidates from three different generations being nominated.

 

The BJD has nominated Barsharani Singh Bariha, the daughter of former MLA Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha, whose death on October 3 necessitated the by-election. Congress has fielded former 3-time MLA & veteran Satya Bhusan Sahu, who is a farmer by profession. The BJP has nominated former legislator Pradip Purohit, who is 57 years old and class 10 pass. He represented the constituency from 2014-19. 

With the end of scrutiny, three major political parties have started their campaigning. In the 2019 assembly election BJD managed to pull off a victory by a narrow margin, this time around they are on a sticky wicket. There is a huge resentment against Bijay Singh Bariha, so nominating his daughter as the candidate is not going to help BJD. Barsha’s emotional appeal for votes in the name of her father has so far failed to woo voters in Pdampur. 

BJP candidate, Pradip Purohit kick-started his campaign from Jharbandh and Paikmal blocks in the first phase. In 2019 he lost by a narrow margin, since then he was not active and lost connection with the voters of Padampur. Ever since the by-poll announcement he has been meeting people & addressing gatherings in different villages. Purohit appears to be out of sync with the caders. 

 

 

 

Congress candidate, Satyabhusan Sahu is a 3-time former MLA, and he still holds sway in Padampur. People still talk about the development works undertaken during his MLA tenure. Being a farmer, he has a huge influence over the farming community. While the party workers are actively mobilizing people from several villages to attend public meetings, Sahu is running from pillar to post to address multiple gatherings in rural areas. PCC President Sarat Patnaik is camping at Padampur and personally overseeing the party’s election management. 

 

BJD candidate, Barsha is solely relying on sympathy votes and her appeal for votes is devoid of assurance or promise. While Purohit’s appeal for votes is full of attacks on opposition candidates, he is seeking votes in the name of PM Modi. Congress’ Satya Bhusan Sahu is griping about the broken promises of the state government. He is listing out his works as MLA and making some promises for the next one & half years. 

With Congress putting its foot on the accelerator, Padampur stares a perfect three-cornered fight. 

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