May 24th 2024.
As the scorching heat and humidity continue to take over Odisha, the state is gearing up for the third round of voting this Saturday. This round will cover six Lok Sabha and 42 assembly segments, with the ruling BJD and the opposition BJP being the main contenders. The six parliamentary constituencies that will go to the polls are Sambalpur, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, and Puri. A total of 64 candidates are competing for the six Lok Sabha seats, while 383 contestants are vying for the 42 assembly segments. This round marks the third phase of elections in Odisha, but nationally, it is the sixth phase.
In the previous 2019 elections, the BJD had emerged victorious in Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Puri, and Cuttack, while the BJP had won Sambalpur and Bhubaneswar. As for the assembly segments within these Lok Sabha seats, the BJD had won 34 out of 42 seats, while the BJP and Congress had secured six and two seats respectively. With a total of 9,448,553 eligible voters, including 4,829,660 men, 4,617,602 women, and 1,291 transgenders, this round will see voting take place in 10,581 polling booths.
The Chief Electoral Officer of Odisha, NB Dhal, has announced that voting will commence at 7 am, with the closing times varying between 4 pm and 5 pm depending on local conditions. Given the hot and humid weather forecast by the IMD, arrangements have been made at polling stations to provide essential amenities such as water and shade. Special accommodations have also been set up for elderly and physically challenged voters.
DGP Arun Kumar Sarangi has stated that a total of 35,000 security personnel, including 121 companies of central forces, have been deployed across the six constituencies. Additionally, about 2,000 polling booths have been identified as critical, requiring the presence of central forces to ensure that the elections are conducted fairly and without any disruptions.
Some of the key candidates in this round include Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and four Odisha ministers - Prafulla Mallick, R P Swain, Ashok Panda, and Basanti Hembram. Pradhan, who is contesting as a BJP candidate in the Sambalpur Lok Sabha seat, will be facing BJD's Pranab Prakash Das. This will be Pradhan's first time contesting in the last 10 years, having previously lost in the 2009 assembly elections. He was later elected to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Pradhan will be replacing incumbent BJP MP Nitesh Ganga Deb.
The BJD has introduced new candidates in Cuttack, Puri, Dhenkanal, and Keonjhar, while Aparajita Sarangi has been re-nominated in Bhubaneswar. In Puri, BJP's Sambit Patra, who narrowly lost to BJD's Pinaki Mishra in 2019, will be contesting again, this time against Arup Patnaik, a former Mumbai police commissioner. In Cuttack, BJD's incumbent MP Bhartruhari Mahtab has switched to the BJP and will be going up against BJD's Santrupt Mishra, a former corporate leader. Mahtab has been representing Cuttack since 1998.
The campaigning for this round has seen the presence of many prominent leaders, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and other senior BJP leaders holding rallies and roadshows in various parts of the state. BJP chief ministers Himanta Biswa Sarma, Vishnu Dev Sai, Bhajan Lal, and former Tripura CM Biplab Deb have also campaigned for party candidates. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his aide Kartik Pandian have been actively campaigning for BJD candidates, and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressed a rally in Salepur, Cuttack district.
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