Bhubaneswar: Jagatsinghpur Lok Sabha constituency will see a repeat of 2019 contest with both BJP and BJD renominating its candidates for the upcoming elections in Odisha.
Old rivals, Rajashree Mallick of BJD and Bibhu Prasad Tarai of BJP, are all set to lock horns again from the seat, which will go to polls on June 1.
The political voyage of Mallick, who is a doctor by profession, commenced with her election to the Odisha Legislative Assembly from Tirtol constituency in 2014. Following Naveen Patnaik’s announcement on 33 per cent quota for women in the allocation of Lok Sabha tickets in 2019, the BJD picked Mallick over sitting MP Kulamani Samal from Jagatsinghpur. This triumph over Tarai by over 2.7 lakh votes marked her transition from state to national politics.
The BJD, however, saw a fall in its vote share from 55.17% in 2014 to 50.44% in 2019.
While the party reposed faith in her and fielded her from the seat again, the joining of Chiranjib Biswal, a two-time MLA from the constituency, has brightened its prospects in the upcoming elections.
Chiranjib, son of former deputy chief minister Basant Kumar Biswal, was elected to the assembly on a Congress ticket from Tirtol in 2004 and Jagatsinghpur in 2014. He, however, failed to retain the seat in 2019 and was defeated by Prasanta Kumar Muduli of BJD by a margin of 8,642 votes.
Besides these two Assembly seats, Jagstsinghpur Lok Sabha constituency consists of Niali, Paradip, Balikuda-Ersama, Kakatpur and Nimapada. All these seats are represented by BJD MLAs.
Tarai, on the other hand, has contested from Jagatsinghpur LS seat in all the last three polls from as many parties. He won the seat in 2009 election on CPI ticket but lost to BJD’s Samal in 2014 after shifting allegiance to Congress. He tasted defeat again in 2019 polls which he contested as a BJP candidate. There has also been a fall in his vote share in the subsequent polls from 31.42% in 2009 to 30.75 in 2014 and 28.34 in 2019.
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