BJD, BJP field sons of departed MLAs in next month’s Odisha bypolls

With lower than a month left for the byolls for 2 Assembly seats in Odisha, the Biju Janata Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party have fielded sons of the deceased MLAs, who had represented Tirtol and Balasore Sadar seats.

The ruling BJD on Monday introduced Bijaya Shankar Das for Tirtol represented by his father late Bishnu Charan Das.

He would cross swords with BJP candidate Rajkishore Behera, who had left the Congress lately, in the reserved seat for Scheduled Caste candidates.

The BJP fielded Manas Kumar Dutta in Balasore Sadar seat which fell vacant after his father former MLA Madan Mohan Dutta had died of cardiac arrest in June final. Swarup Kumar Das, who had a profitable stint in the civic physique elections, is BJD candidate.

The two next era politicians in their early thirties have already plunged into marketing campaign path looking for votes in the title of their late fathers.

Bishnu Charan Das, a veteran BJD chief, had received Tirtol in 2019. But he had received the Jagatsinghpur seat for 5 consecutive occasions between 1990 and 2014. He was a Minister in the Naveen Patnaik authorities and was additionally elected to the Upper House of Parliament. Known for his organisational calibre, the late BJD chief had large following in Jagatsinghpur district.

Bijay Kumar exuded confidence that his victory margin could be 50,000. “However, our key issues will be unemployment and issues of farmers which were duly addressed by the BJD government,” he stated.

On the opposite hand, Manas Kumar stated, “My father was very popular in Balasore. He was always available when people needed him the most. I have confidence on the good will my father used to carry.” Madan Mohan Dutta, as BJP candidate, had received the Balasore Sadar seat for the primary time in 2019.

October 16 would be the final date for submitting nominations. Scrutiny of nominations is scheduled on October 17 and October 19 would be the final date for withdrawal of candidature. The polls can be carried out on November three and counting will happen on November 10.