Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s three major political parties -BJD, BJP and Congress – have released the list of star campaigners for the upcoming bypoll to Dhamnagar Assembly constituency.
The 40-star campaigner list of BJP, hopeful of retaining the seat, includes three Union Ministers – Dharmendra Pradhan, Ashwini Vaishanaw and Bisweswar Tudu while as many leaders of BJD, including cine stars Arindam Ray and Akash Dasnayak, will be out in the constituency seeking votes. While BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik would lead 40-member star campaigners, names of School and Mass Education Minister Samir Dash and Kendrapada MP Anubhav Mohanty were found missing from the list.
The Congress ‘ 30 star campaigners include Odisha in-charge A Chella Kumar, co-in charge Rudra Raju, OPCC president Sarat Pattanayak, and three former state presidents, Suresh Routray, and Tara Bahinipati. Senior MLA Md Moquim has been excluded from the list.
Meanwhile, disgruntled BJD leader and former MLA Rajendra Das’ entry has made Dhamnagar by-election interesting as it is likely to become a four-horse race with BJP’s Suryavanshi Suraj and Congress’ Baba Harekrushna Sethi in the fray. Playing the woman card, BJD has fielded Abanti Das, a protege of Das, from the constituency to counter the sympathy wave in favour of the Suryavanshi Suraj Sthitaprajna, son of Bishnu Sethi whose demise necessitated the by-election.
Also Read: Odisha: Rajendra Das Queers BJD Dhamnagar Pitch By Filing Nomination As Rebel Candidate
The voting will be held on November 3 and the counting of votes and announcement of results will be done on November 6.
Bishnu Sethi won the election from Dhamnagar by a margin of 4,625 votes in 2019. He polled 80,111 votes and his nearest rival Das of BJD got 75,486. While Manmohan Samal of BJP had won the seat in the 2004 elections, Das was elected from Dhamnagar in 2009 and Muktikanta Mondal of BJD in 2014.
Check the lists here:
