Odisha: Campaign for Jharsuguda bypoll ends

Bhubaneswar: The campaign for Jharsuguda bypoll in Odisha came to an end at 6 pm today.

The three major political parties in Odisha—Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress—pulled out all the stops to attract the voters.

BJD candidate Dipali Das, BJP nominee Tankadhar Tripathy and Congress bypoll pick Tarun Pandey made all possible attempts to win the people’s confidence in the bypoll, scheduled to be held on May 10.

BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik addressed a public meeting at Jharsuguda in support of Dipali yesterday. BJP leader and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan too addressed a public meeting and participated in a rally in the bypoll-bound Assembly constituency to seek votes for the saffron party. Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Sarat Pattanayak and other senior leaders of the party campaigned for Pandey.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) for Odisha Nikunja Bihari Dhal, meanwhile, said all arrangements are in place for smooth voting in the by-election.

Altogether 2,21,073 voters, including 1,10,323 men and 1,10,687 women, will exercise their franchise at 253 booths in the constituency.

“Central teams have been deployed at 144 booths out of the total 253 in Jharsuguda. Webcasting will be done in almost all booths of the constituency. The voting will start at 7 am and continue till 6 pm,” Dhal said.

The district administration has made all necessary arrangements for counting of votes on May 13.

Notably, the by-election is necessitated due to the murder of sitting MLA and Health Minister Naba Das on January 29 this year.