The BJP on May 8 named former MLA Radharani Panda as its candidate for the May 31 bypoll to the Brajrajnagar Assembly seat in Odisha’s Jharsuguda district.
The central election committee of the BJP has decided to field Ms. Panda from the seat after careful considerations, a statement issued by the party said.
Ms. Panda had bagged the seat by defeating BJD candidate Anup Kumar Sai in 2014.
She, however, lost to BJD’s Kishore Mohanty by a margin of 11,634 during the 2019 Assembly polls.
Bypoll was necessitated in Brajrajnagar following Mohanty’s demise last December.
The saffron party, despite its drubbing in the recently concluded rural and urban polls in Brajrajnagar area, feels that Ms. Panda’s organisational skills will help her clinch the seat.
The ruling BJD and the Congress are yet to name their candidates for the seat.
According to sources in the Congress, the party has zeroed in on senior leader and former Speaker Kishore Patel as its candidate, but the announcement was yet to be made.
The ruling BJD is facing the problem of plenty.
A section of leaders in the ruling camp wants the deceased leader’s wife, Alaka, to fight the election, while there are others who are rooting for the daughter of Health Minister N.K. Das, Deepali.
Byelections will be held on May 31 from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Votes will be counted on June 3.
