Padampur bypoll: All 13 candidates file nomination on last day

All 13 candidates filed their nomination for the December 5 Padampur by-election in Odisha's Bargarh district on the last day on Thursday, officials said.

The delay was caused due to an ongoing sit-in demonstration in front of the office of the sub-collector, who is the returning officer, by agitating farmers demanding crop insurance claims. The agitators had urged the nominees not to file their documents in support of their stir.

Bargarh district Collector Manisha Chatterjee said that all the 13 candidates in the fray filed their nominations on the last day.

The contest is likely to be triangular between the BJP, BJD and Congress, with the three parties nominating candidates from three different generations.

The BJD has nominated Barsharani Singh Bariha, the daughter of former MLA Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha, whose death on October 3 necessitated the by-election. She is 29 years old and a law graduate.

The BJP has nominated former legislator Pradip Purohit, who is 57 years old and class 10 pass. He represented the constituency from 2014-19.

He had on November 14 attempted to file his nomination but had to return from the sub-collector's office due to the farmers' stir. The agitators urged him and other nominees not to file their nominations.

Seventy-year-old Satya Bhusan Sahu, a three-time former MLA of Padampur and a farmer by profession, filed his nomination as a Congress candidate.

The documents will be scrutinised on Friday and the last date for withdrawal of nomination papers is November 21.

The bypoll is considered politically significant as it is the last major electoral battle in the state before the 2024 general elections.

The BJD will try to bag the seat and seek revenge from the BJP for its loss of Dhamnagar in the recent by-election, while the Congress will also try to regain its former "fort".