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Campaigning for first phase ends in Orissa

The campaign for 70 of the total 147 assembly seats going to the poll in the first phase of assembly elections in Orissa on February 17 ended on Tuesday.

Altogether, 384 candidates, including 96 independents, most of them rebels from various political parties, are in the fray in 18 of the 31 districts. These cover the entire western Orissa and parts of south and north Orissa.

Prominent among those whose fate will be decided on February 17 are Orissa Chief Minister Hemananda Biswal (Laikera), state Revenue Minister Jagannath Patnaik (Kesinga), state Energy Minister Niranjan Patnaik (Ramchandrapur), Health Minister Kishore Patel (Sundargarh), Urban Development Minister Bhupender Singh (Junagarh), Orissa Janata Dal (United) President Narasingha Mishra (Loisinga), leader of the opposition Sachidananda Dalal (Boudh) and former state finance and panchayat raj minister Ragunath Pattnaik (Jeypore).

A little over 11.2 million voters will exercise their franchise in the first phase in 13,563 polling stations, a majority of which had been identified as sensitive booths. While the ruling Congress is contesting 69 assembly seats, leaving the Laoisinga seat to the Janata Dal (united) president, the Bharatiya Janata Party-Biju Janata Dal combine is contesting 35 seats each in their 63-84 seat-sharing arrangement.

Although there were about 15 political parties in the fray, the main battle should be between the ruling Congress and the BJP-BJD combine. The presence of a large number of rebels from all the three major political parties, however, has surcharged the election atmosphere. Sixth of the total 70 assembly seats will witness multi-cornered contests in the first phase. Ten seats face triangular contests. As many as 57 sitting MLAs, including 13 ministers of the Hemananda Biswal government, were in the fray.

The other political parties which have also made their presence in the first phase were the Bahujan Samaj Party (47), the Nationalist Congress Party (15), the Trinamool Congress (15), the Janata Dal-Secular (12), the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (12), the Shiv Sena (10) and the Samata Party (1). \

The Trinamool Congress is contesting the assembly election in the state for the first time but its chief, Mamata Banarjee, is yet to campaign for her candidates. Of the 56 women candidates in the fray, 24 were contesting for the first phase. The fortnight-long campaign, which began on a dull note, picked up momentum with a battery of central leaders doing a whirlwind tour of the assembly constituencies campaigning for their party candidates.

For the BJP-BJD, Prime Minister A B Vajpayee, Home Minister L K Advani, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and BJD President Naveen Patnaik were the star campaigners. Others, like union Infotech Minister Pramod Mahajan, Union Science and Technology Minister Murli Monohar Joshi and Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Environment Maneka Gandhi also addressed a series of election meetings in favour of BJP-BJD candidates.

On the other hand, AICC President Sonia Gandhi was the only star campaigner for the ruling Congress. She went on a day-long whirlwind tour of the state and addressed four election meetings in western and southen Orissa.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh and AICC general secretary in charge of Orissa Ghulam Nabi Azad also toured several constituencies along with Chief Minister Hemananda Biswal and Pradesh Congress chief and former chief minister J B Patnaik.

Other central leaders who also campaigned for their party candidates are Samata Party leader and Union Defence Minister George Fernandes and Communist Party of India all-India general secretary A B Bardhan.

Of the total 70 seats going to poll in the first phase, 25 were reserved for the scheduled tribe, 11 for the scheduled caste and the remaining 34 were general seats. In the last election, the ruling Congress had won 42 seats while the Janata Dal had bagged 17 seats. The BJP followed up with seven seats, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha with two, and independents and the CPI winning one each.

The campaigning here has been bitter, what with over 30 rebel candidates from the Congress, the BJP and the BJP standing for elections after being expelled from the parties for six years for six years for anti-party activities. Prominent among them were Ragunath Pattnaik, former MLA Jagmohan Nayak (Junagarh), former Orissa assembly deputy speaker Prahallad Dora (Chitrakonda) and former MLA Dr Murari Mohan Mishra (Melchhaminda).

Of the 70 assembly seats, at least four -- Gunupur, Rayagada, Malkangiri and Chitrakonda -- have been identified as Naxalite-affected constituencies while five seats -- Kantabanji, Loisinga, Birmaharajpur, Sundargarh and Ramchandrapur -- have been described as politically-sensitive.

This will be the first assembly election in Orissa since 1960s that Biju Patnaik has not been present. Patnaik, a key figure in the political arena, passed away in 1997.

The BJP and the BJD are trying to use the Biju card, by placing him and Vajpayee on posters pasted in every constituency.

UNI

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