Odisha: Over 81% voter turnout recorded in Padampur bypolls

Over 81 per cent of 2.57 lakh voters exercised their franchise in the by-election to the Padampur Assembly constituency in Odisha’s Bargarh district.

As Padampur sub-collector-cum-returning officer Trilochan Patra on Tuesday released the final voter turnout figure at 81.29 per cent, both the ruling BJD and the main Opposition BJP are confident of winning the seat.

The voting which began at 7 am on Monday, continued beyond the closure time of 4 pm as about 12,000 people were in queues to cast their votes at that time. Altogether 80.5 per cent of the electorate voted till 6 pm.

The political fate of 10 candidates in the fray, including the BJD’s Barsha Singh Bariha, BJP’s Pradip Purohit and the Congress’ Satya Bhusan Sahu will be known on December 8.

The bypoll was necessitated by the death of BJD MLA Bijaya Ranjan Singh Bariha.

“Whenever there is record voting, the main opposition candidate becomes the winner. Therefore, we are optimistic to win the seat by a comfortable margin. The people have been fed up with the BJD’s 22-year-old government,” Leader of Opposition Jay Narayan Mishra of the BJP said.

BJD vice-president Prasanna Acharya, however, rejected the BJP’s claim.

“The people have seen our developmental activities and leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The people of neighbouring Bijepur had given a massive mandate to the BJD in the 2019 by-poll. Our winning margin this time will be more than the previous poll,” Acharya said.

The BJD candidate in Padampur won the 2019 election by securing 41.29 per cent votes, while BJP nominee Pradip Purohit bagged 38.66 per cent votes.

Asked about the reason behind the massive voter turnout, BJD vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra said, “This is not unusual. A total of 75 per cent of voters exercising their franchise is normal at Padampur.”

Senior journalist and political analyst Rabi Das, however, said the high voting percentage is mostly due to massive mobilisation by all the parties.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, four union ministers such as Narendra Singh Tomar, Ashwini Vaishnaw and Dharmendra Pradhan and scores of Odisha ministers, MPs and MLAs canvassed for their respective candidates.

Senior Congress leader and MLA Suresh Routray admitted that his party candidate is not going to win the seat.

“The BJD will be number one followed by the BJP. Both BJD and BJP have spent crores of rupees in Padampur by-poll,” he said.