Jharsuguda Assembly Bypoll In Odisha: Congress To Announce Candidate Soon

Jharsuguda: Congress has stepped up its exercise for selection of party candidate for the by-election to Jharsuguda Assembly constituency slated to be held on May 10.

The 5-member committee, constituted by the party for candidate selection for the bypoll, is now on a visit to Jharsuguda. The team, headed by senior Congress leader and Kantabanja MLA Santosh Singh Saluja, will submit its report along with names of potential aspirants to the PCC.

Thereafter, AICC will take a final decision on party candidate for the bypoll, sources said.

The committee members, who reached Jharsuguda Monday, have already visited Kirmira, Likera and Kolabira block areas and met party leaders and workers to seek their opinion. The party is mainly seeking opinions regarding six potential candidates. One of the probable candidates is stated to be former chief minister Hemanand Vishwal’s daughter, they said.

Saluja said the opinions of common people are also being obtained apart from collecting the views of Congress workers and leaders at the grassroots level. The report will be submitted to the PCC for finalisation of candidate. Winning prospects of aspirant will be the main criterion for selection, he said, adding that the the party will announce its candidate soon

The by-election was necesitated following the death of Minister Naba Kishore Das who was shot by a policeman at Brajarajnagar on January 29.

It may be noted that Jharsuguda was a Congress stronghold for a long time before Nab Das joined the ruling BJD before the last elections held in 2019.

While BJD has fielded slain Naba Das’ daughter Deepali Das for the bypoll, BJP is in the process of finalising its candidate for the by-election and may nominate its youth leader Tankadhar Tripathy.