In our series of key constituencies for Lok Sabha polls, today we bring you a report on Bargarh parliamentary constituency in Odisha. Akashvani Correspondent reports that Bargarh is one of the 21 Lok Sabha constituencies in Odisha and comprises seven legislative assembly segments. It is a general category parliamentary seat. It comprises the entire Bargarh and Jharsuguda districts of Odisha. In 2019 polls, BJP had won the Lok Sabha seat, while the ruling BJD in the state had won all the assembly segments namely Padampur, Bijepur, Bargarh, Attabira, Bhatli, Brajarajnagar and Jharsuguda. Polling for this Lok Sabha seat will be held on 20th of this month in the fifth phase of the ongoing general elections and result will be declared on 4th of June. There are about 13 lakh voters in the parliament seat who will cast their vote in 1397 polling booths.
The BJP registered a surprise victory from the Bargarh Lok Sabha constituency in 2019 when Suresh Pujari defeated BJD stalwart Prasanna Acharya by a margin of over 63,000 votes. What was particularly noteworthy in the previous election here was that the voters made a clear distinction between the state and parliamentary polls. While the BJD swept all seven assembly segments in 2019 elections when Odisha went for simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, the BJD MP candidate lost to the BJP, as voters chose to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bid for re-election. Since the constituency came into being in 2008, neither the BJD nor the BJP have repeated MP candidates from Bargarh. This time too, both parties have changed their candidates.This time, the BJP has given the ticket to senior party leader and former MLA from Padmapur Pradip Purohit, while Parineeta Mishra from the BJD is the other top contender here. Congress has fielded former MP from Bargarh Sanjay Bhoi.
There is no particular national issue that is being talked among the voters this time, while famer issues like legal status to minimum support price to the paddy crop, water and irrigation to the farmlands, cheap electricity to the farmers, construction of large scale cold storages, road and rail connectivity and district status to Padmapur are the major issues on which the electorates will decide whom to send to the Lok Sabha.
