Japur: The Assembly constituency segments of Bari and Barchana will witness a fierce battle between the ruling BJD and the BJP in the upcoming Zilla Parishad elections, political analysts have estimated.

In the 2019 general election, the total number of voters in Jajpur district increased by 13.21% from that of the 2014 general election. in Jajpur in 2019, the BJP issued a tough challenge to the ruling party in the district.

It was kind of a wake-up call for the ruling party for future elections.

Recently, Bari BJP legislator Biswaranjan Mallick joined the BJD camp, which further doubled the pace of the electoral process in the Assembly segment. Now analysts say local voters may not accept party defectors, which could work against the ruling BJD.

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On the other hand, Amar Kumar Nayak, the candidate put forward by the BJP for the Barchana Assembly constituency seat, who had lost by a narrow margin, is not seen after the 2019 general election.

Even as Nayak was not seen during the candidate selection process for the upcoming Zilla Parishad elections. Taking advantage, BJD conducted an election campaign in the segment unilaterally.

The BJP was placed second in Jajpur district in the latest panchayat polls. The BJD then adopted populist strategies and approached local voters through door-to-door campaigns.

However, the BJP had won 40.5% of the votes in Jajpur due to the anti-incumbent factor. The saffron party had obtained 43,828 votes in the Bari bloc in this segment of the Assembly in the 2017 panchayat elections. Against which, BJD had obtained a total of 40,331 votes in the bloc.

Zilla Parishad areas No-23 and No-24 had passed into the hands of the BJP and areas No-21 and No-22 had passed into the hands of the BJD.

Similarly, in the Barchana Assembly segment in the 2017 panchayat polls, the BJD got 63,266 votes, the BJP 30,216 votes and the Congress 27,781 votes respectively. All five Zilla Parishad seats went in favor of BJD. But the BJP had become the second political party.

The BJP’s growing popularity was reflected in the 2019 general election as incumbent BJD Barchana MP Amar Prasad Satapathy secured 64,084 votes and BJP candidate Amar Nayak secured 62,599 votes.

Therefore, BJD leaves nothing to chance now.

NPN