Odisha to witness tough fight in 3rd phase elections 2019

Bhubaneswar: With few hours left for the third phase poll battle, the big fight is expected among the heavyweights fielded by three major political parties both in Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Odisha.

As the polling will be conducted for 6 Lok Sabha constituencies and 42 Assembly segments in third phase, the political bigwigs are all set to lock horns to win the elections.

There are several Parliamentary constituencies and Assembly seats where the tough fight is expected in this phase scheduled on April 23.

Among the Lok Sabha constituencies, the political pundits’ focus will be on Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri.

Odisha capital will witness a big fight between IAS vs IPS tomorrow. Another IPS is making his political debut in Cuttack against Biju Janata Dal (BJD)’s five-time MP and a senior political leader. In Puri, it will be major test for two Television faces and a senior Supreme Court lawyer.

While BJD has nominated former IPS Arup Patnaik from Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Aparajita Sarangi and Congress backed CPI candidate Janardan Pati, former Odisha DGP Prakash Mishra is entering into polls against BJD’s Bhartruhari Mahtab and Congress’ Panchanan Kanungo in Cuttack Parliamentary Constituency. BJP’s national spokesperson Sambit Patra is on his mission to oust BJD in Odisha’s holy district Puri. He is fighting against BJD stalwart Pinaki Mishra and Congress’ Satya Prakash Nayak.

The third phase polls will also decide the fortunes of Aananta Kumar Jena, Sushant Rout, Ashok Chandra Panda, Arabinda Dhali, Rajendra Sahoo, Bibhuti Balbantray and Jyotirinda Nath Mitra nominated by the BJD for Assembly seats under Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha Constituency.

Under Cuttack Lok Sabha Constituency, the fight will be between BJD’s Ranendra Pratap Swain vs Congress’ Uma Ballav Rath vs BJP’s Brajendra Ray in Athagarh Assembly seat, BJD’s Debasish Samantray vs Congress’ Mohammed Moquim vs BJP’s Samir Dey in Barabati-Cuttack Assembly seat, BJD’s Souvic Biswal vs Congress’s Jagdish Mohanty vs BJP’s Nayan Kishore Mohanty in Choudwar-Cuttack Assembly, BJD’s Debi Ranjan Tripathy vs Congress’ Debasis Patnaik vs BJP’s Subhransu Sekhar Padhi in Banki Assembly, BJD’s Chandrasarthi Behera vs Congress’ Abhishek Mahananda vs BJP’s Dillip Mallick for Cuttack Sadar Assembly seat, BJD’s Debi Mishra vs Congress’ Bobby Mohanty vs BJP’s Bijay Kumar Dalabehera for Baramba Assembly and BJD’s Soumya Ranjan Patnaik vs Congress’ Basanta Maharana vs BJP’s Siddharth Singh in Khandapara Assembly seat.

The leaders who are contesting the Assembly polls under Puri Parliamentary Constituency included BJD’s Prashant Jagdev vs Congress’ Pradeep Swain vs BJP’s Prithviraj Harichandan for Chilika seat, BJD’s Arun Sahu vs Congress’ Manoj Kumar Sahoo vs BJP’s Irani Roy for Nayagarh, BJD’s Maheshwar Mohanty vs Congress’ Auro Prasad Mishra vs BJP’s Jayant Sarangi in Puri, BJD’s Sanjay Das Burma vs Congress’ Umakant Baral vs BJP’s Lalitendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra for Bramhagiri seat, BJD’s Umakant Samantray vs Congress’ Prasad Harichandran vs BJP’s Om Prakash Mishra for Satyabadi, BJD’s Pradeep Maharathy vs Congress’ Ajit Mangaraj vs BJP’s Ashrit Pattnayak for Pipili and BJD’s Satyanarayan Pradhan vs Congress’ Subhashree Panda vs BJP’s Surama Padhy in Ranpur seat.

Besides, the fate of Lok Sabha candidates from Sambalpur — BJD’s Nalinikanta Pradhan, BJP’s Nitesg Gangadeb and Congress’ Sarat Patnaik will be decided in third phase. BJD’s Chandrani Murmu, who was recently in news after her fake obscene video clipping featuring her with a man circulated on social media, is contesting from Keonjhar Lok Sabha Constituency against BJP’s Ananta Naik and Congress’ Fakir Mohan Naik. The third phase is equally significant for BJD’s Mahesh Sahu, who is the MP nominee against BJP’s Rudra Narayan Pani and Congress’ senior political leader KP Singh Deo in Dhenkanal Lok Sabha polls.

Several Assembly seats are expected to see neck and neck fight in the third phase. The eyes are on the Ghasipura Assembly seat under Keonjhar Lok Sabha Constituency where two-corner fight is likely between Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Niranjan Patnaik and BJD’s controversial minister Badri Narayan Patra.

Similarly, former Odisha Congress president Jayadev Jena is also contesting the polls this time against BJD’s Bhagirathi Sethi and BJP’s Alok Sethi from Anandapur Assembly segment under Keonjhar Lok Sabha Constituency.

Other political leaders, who will also test their luck, included Congress’ Nabin Nanda in Dhenkanal Assembly seat, BJD’s Prafulla Kumar Mallick for Kamakhyanagar, BJD’s Nrusingha Charan Sahu for Parjanga, Congress’ Biplab Jena for Angul Assembly, BJD’s Raseswari Panigrahi vs Congress’ Ashwini Pujahari vs BJP’s Jayanarayan Mishra for Sambalpur Assembly seat and BJD’s Rohit Pujari for Rairakhol Assembly seat.