Bhadrak: Voting will be held on 3rd, counting of votes on 6th. The campaign will end on the evening of The 1st. There are only a few hours left for the campaign. Forty-four panchayats in Dhamnagar block, 13 panchayats in Tihidi block, and 13 wards of Dhamnagar NAC are shaken by the poll campaign. In 13 panchayats of Tihidi block, bjd votes are likely to be divided for independent candidates. Therefore, the BJD is now eyeing 11 panchayats in Dhamnagar block called Dobal area. The BJD candidate’s fate depends on the votes of these 24 panchayats.
Who will win in Dhamnagar? How many votes will independent candidate Rajendra Das get? Will the BJP retain its stronghold or will the BJD take it away? Many such questions are now doing the rounds from Dhamnagar, Tihidi area to the capital Bhubaneswar. The BJP camp is upbeat after Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan campaigned for two days. The morale of BJP leaders and workers has reached its peak. Suraj Suryavanshi, who is contesting the election for the first time after his father’s demise, is also going from village to village. Former Dhamnagar MLA and senior BJP leader Manmohan Samal has now become a big weapon for Suraj. Suraj has become very strong in collaboration with Manmohan Singh’s own organization with the late Vishnu Sethi’s own organization. The BJP is trying its best to break the BJD’s winning streak in the by-elections in the state by securing this seat anyway.
On the other hand, all eyes are now on the strategy of the ruling BJD, which faced an open rebellion in the by-election for the first time. Bjd ministers and MLAs have been camping for the past two weeks. There are frequent meetings, meetings and campaigning going on. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will also campaign virtually on Monday. A total of 13 stages have already been set up across the constituency. Chudakuti, Radhaballavpur, Asurali, Kasimpur, Dhushuri, Bhattsahi, Dobal, Karda, Dhamnagar in Dhamnagar block and Bodak, Kanpada, Dolsahi Basanti Ground and Achak Durgapadia of Tihidi block have been identified. The BJD aims to mobilise 4,000-5,000 workers at each venue. Big LEDs will be installed at every election meeting ground. And the BJD camp is hopeful that Naveen’s magic will be a boon for Avanti.
In the 2019 elections, BJP’s Bishnu Sethi got 80,111 votes while BJD’s Rajendra Das got 75,459 votes. The Congress was reduced to 7,258 votes. The BJP’s victory margin was only 4652 votes. But the picture was reversed in the last panchayat elections. The BJD was ahead of the BJP by nearly 28,000 votes in all the zones and NACs of the constituency. Therefore, the BJD camp is making all efforts to repeat the results of the panchayat elections in the by-elections. However, rebel independent candidate Rajendra Das has become a thorn in the way of victory. If Raju Das collects some BJD votes from every panchayat, the way will be cleared for the BJP. Bjd heavyweights are desperately trying to block the way to collect votes of rebel candidate Rajendra Das.
The votes of 13 panchayats under Tihidi block will be decisive. There is speculation about how much will fall in favour of Rajendra Das from these panchayats. Kanpada panchayat is located in zone 7 of Tihidi block. Bjd candidate Awanti Das and Independent candidate Rajendra Das are residents of this panchayat. Raju Babu holds sway in Baro, Bilna, Bodak, Talgopavindha, Kubera, Shyamsundarpur, Guamal, Dolsahi, Nayananda, Paliabindha, Achak and Talpada panchayats of Tihidi block. The BJD is worried about this. In these 13 panchayats, bjd got 27,825 votes while BJP got 20,815 votes. While the BJD was leading in the panchayat polls by 7,000 votes, Raju is likely to grab 7,000 votes in the current by-election.
In 44 panchayats of Dhamnagar block, both the BJP and the BJD are locked in a tough fight. Out of these 44, 11 panchayats in the Dobal region, which borders Jajpur district, are now bjd’s focus. In these panchayats under Zilla Parishad Zone No. 4, the BJD has targeted a large number of votes. If there is success in this, then the path to Victory of Avanti is said to be devoid of thorns. In Dhamnagar NAC, only 8% of the votes were cast, while the remaining 92% were in rural areas. The NAC votes will be shared by both the BJD and the BJP. But whoever attracts the rural voters the most will be the Bajigar of Dhamnagar.