Jharsuguda bypoll: Slain Odisha minister Naba Kishore Das’s daughter face to face with other debutants

Dipali is touted to be Das’s heir because of her presence in the political and administrative arenas in and around western Odisha, especially in Jharsuguda. She had accompanied her father during his election campaigns for years and regularly attended district development review meetings, along with public-connect tours and exercises.

Hailing from Sundergarh, Tankadhar Tripathy was president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and is its secretary now. His active participation in social programmes on issues such as water scarcity and lack of development in the interior areas of Jharsuguda, an industry-rich district, made him a frontrunner for the BJP ticket.

Similarly the Congress picked Tarun Pandey, who is no stranger to politics either and has been a known name in the party in the area. His father Birendra Chandra Pandey won the Assembly seat for the Congress in 1980, 1985 and 1995.

The bypoll-bound district has seen its fair share of political hostilities, with the BJD and the BJP levelling allegations and counter-allegations of obstruction of campaigning and poll violence against each other. Both parties submitted memoranda to the central observer. While the BJD sought to stop a member of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes from campaigning in the district, the BJP asked for deployment of central forces, alleging that the law and order situation had deteriorated.

The saffron party is yet to register a win here, while Congress candidates have won the seat 10 times. The BJD has won the elections here thrice. While the BJD is nursing its wounds from its shock defeat at Dhamnagar, the BJP is looking to avenge the Padampur bypoll loss as Wednesday’s bypoll is considered a precursor to the 2024 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

The Assembly constituency consists of four blocks–Jharsuguda, Kolabira, Kirmira and Laikera–and the Jharsuguda municipality. The electorate comprises about 2.2 lakh voters and there are 253 polling stations.