Litmus Test for Naveen as State Goes for 2nd Phase Polls

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Bhubaneswar: The electoral fortune of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and four of his council of ministers besides Opposition leader Narashingha Mishra will be put to test as Odisha goes for second phase elections in five Lok Sabha and 35 Assembly seats Thursday.

Altogether 279 candidates are in fray for five Lok Sabha and 35 Assembly seats. Although all the seats will witness multi-cornered contests, the real battle for ballots would be mostly confined to the ruling BJD, the BJP and the Congress.

All eyes are on Bijepur Assembly seat in Western Odisha where BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is seeking election besides his home constituency Hinjili seat in South Odisha.

For the first time in the electoral history, the Chief Minister is seeking election from two Assembly seats. Patnaik, who has been winning Hinjili Assembly seat since 2000 Assembly elections, this time decided to test his credibility and popularity in Western Odisha by contesting the Bijepur Assembly seat, a Congress bastion till 2014.

In the 2014 elections, the ruling BJD had captured four of the five Lok Sabha seats and almost swept the Assembly elections by winning 24 of the 35 Assembly seats.

The BJP had won one Lok Sabha seat (Sundargarh-ST) and four Assembly seats while the Congress bagged five seats and the CPI and Samata Kranti Dal one seat each.

The five Lok Sabha seats going to polls in the second phase are Bargarh, Sundargarh (ST), Bolangir, Kandhamal and Aska. Polling will be held simultaneously in 35 Assembly seats falling under these five parliamentary constituencies.

Campaigning for the second phase saw a bloody violence when two unidentified assailants shot dead BJP leader from Khurda Manguli Jena April 14 night. The state government had ordered a CB probe into the murder while the BJP observed Khurda bandh April 15 in protest against the gruesome murder and stringent action against the culprits.

The second phase Assembly elections will see veteran leaders Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, four of his council of ministers Niranjan Pujari (Sonepur), Snehangini Chhuria (Attabira), Sushant Singh (Bhatli) and Bikram Keshari Aarukh (Bhanjanagar) seeking re-election.

Assembly Speaker P K Amat (Boudh), Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra (Bolangir), BJP Legislature party leader K V Singh Deo (Patnagarh), former minister Sharada Nayak (Rourkela) would also try their luck in the elections.

Read more : Litmus Test for Naveen as State Goes for 2nd Phase Polls

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