Campaign over, all wait for the big day

The Statesman, 15th April, 2009

Statesman News ServiceBHUBANESWAR, April 14:

Campaigning for the 10 Lok Sabha and 77 Assembly constituencies of the state, which are going to poll on Thursday, came to an end today with several star campaigners hitting the road across western and southern parts of the state. Triangular and multi cornered contests, Maoist call for boycott of polls in these areas have been in focus.The fate of several prominent leaders including chef minister Mr Naveen Patnaik, former chief ministers Mr Giridhar Gomang, Mr Hemananda Biswal, Union minister Mr Chandrashekar Sahu, BJP state president Mr Suresh Pujari, Oriya film actor Sidhant Mohapatra will be sealed in the ballot box on 16 April. Official sources said a total of 1,26,38,467 voters are expected to exercise their franchise in 15,045 booths in the first phase on 16 April. The 10 Lok Sabha constituencies which will go to poll are Bargarh, Sundargarh, Sambalpur, Bolangir, Kalahandi, Nawarangpur, Kandhamal, Aska, Berhampur and Koraput. Of the 10 Lok Sabha seats, while Bolangir Lok Sabha constituency has the maximum of 14,41,196 voters, the Lok Sabha segment of Kandhamal has the lowest number of voters ~ 10,63,531, sources said. As many as 72 candidates including 17 Independents are in the fray for the first phase parliamentary election. Of the remaining 55 candidates, while 40 belong to recognised political parties, 15 are from un-recognised political parties. While Sundargarh, Kandhamal, Aska and Berhampur have nine candidates each in the fray, Nawarangpur Lok Sabha segment has the lowest of four candidates. Kalahandi and Sambalpur have eight and seven candidates respectively. While Bargarh and Koraput Lok Sabha seats have six candidates each, Bolangir has five candidates. For the prestigious Bolangir Lok Sabha seat, the prime contenders are Mr Narasingha Mishra (Congress), Mr Kalikesh Nayaran Singh Deo (BJD) and Mrs Sangita Kumari Singh Deo (BJP).Similarly, Union minister of state for rural development Mr Chandrasekhar Sahu (Congress), cine actor Sidhanta Mohapatra (BJD), Mr Bharat Paik (BJP) will be the major aspirants for the Berhampur Parliamentary seat.Sitting MP and former chief minister Mr Giridhar Gamang (Congress), Mr Jayaram Pangi (BJD) and Mr Upendra Majhi (BJP) will vie for Koraput Lok Sabha seat. In Aska, the major aspirants are Mr Ramachandra Rath (Congress), Mr Nityananda Pradhan (BJD) and Ms Shanti Devi (BJP).Among others, Mr Ashok Sahu (BJP), Mr Rudramadhab Ray (BJD) and Mr Suzit Kumar Padhy (Congress) are in the fray for the sensitive Kandhamal seat.In Sambalpur, the major contenders are Mr Amarnath Pradhan (Congress), Mr Rohit Pujari (BJD) and Mr Surendra Lath (BJP).Kalahandi is said to be witness fight among Mr Bikram Kesharui Deo (BJP), Mr Bhakta Charan Das (Congress) and Mr Subash Chandra Nayak (BJP).Mr Jual Oram (BJP), Mr Hemenanda BIswal (Congress), Mr Salomi Minz (CPM) are the prime contenders for Sundargarh seat.In Bargarh, the major spirants are Ms Radharani Panda (BJP), Mr Sanjay Bhoi (Congress), Dr Hamid Hussain (BJD).The four candidates for Nawarangpur are Mr Parshuram Majhi (BJP), Mr Domburu Majhi (BJD), Mr Pradeep Kumar Majhi (Congress) and Mr Chandradwaj Majhi (BSP). Official sources said that a total of 598 candidates are in the fray for the forthcoming first phase general elections to the 70 Assembly segments. While earlier a total of 599 candidates were there in the fray, the death of an Independent candidate Somnath Madkami in Malkangiri district has reduced the number of vying candidates to 598.While Congress and BJP have fielded 70 candidates each for the Assembly elections, BJD has fielded 53. The number of candidates fielded by other parties are CPI (three), CPM (one), CPI-ML (nine), BSP (52), RPI (11), KKD (18), JMM (11), SP (23), Samruddha Odisha (47), Kalinga Sena (12) and OMM (three) besides 172 Independents.While Rajgangpur Assembly segment has the maximum of 16 candidates in the fray, Padmapur Assembly constituency in Bargarh district has the lowest of four candidates.It may be mentioned here that the Election Commission of India (EC) has effected changes in polling timings in 19 Assembly constituencies, apparently keeping the Naxal menace in the mind. The EC has decided to reduce the polling duration by an hour. As per this decision, in these 19 Assembly constituencies coming under Nawarangpur, Koraput, Berhampur and Kandhamal parliamentary constituencies, polling will be held between 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. In other constituencies which go to poll in the first phase, the timing will be between 7 a.m. till 4 p.m. This apart, in a bid to facilitate the relief camp inmates’ participation in election process in Kandhamal district, special transportation arrangements have been made with due permission of the State Election Commission. The relief camps will be provided with buses with adequate security arrangements to ferry the voters to and fro the booths on the poll date, official sources informed.