Bibhuti Mohapatro | Apr 4, 2019 | 5 min read
Bibhuti
Mohapatra
Bhubaneswar: This election, the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha constituency in Odisha is witnessing a tug of war; but it’s not your usual run-of-the-mill political fight. This one is between a former IAS officer and a former IPS officer.
While
the BJP has nominated former IAS officer Aparajita Sarangi, Odisha’s ruling
party Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has fielded former Mumbai Police commissioner Arup
Patnaik, ignoring its veteran five-time MP Prasanna Patasani, for the
Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat, which will go to polls on April 23.
Meet the candidates
Arup
is a 1979-batch IPS officer of the Maharashtra cadre who joined BJD in April
2018 after his retirement in 2015. Sarangi, on the other hand, is a 1994-batch
IAS officer of the Odisha cadre who took voluntary retirement while serving as
a joint secretary in the Modi government and joined the saffron party last
November.
Interestingly,
both former officers-turned-politicians are testing the waters of electoral
politics for the first time, and such a battle between ex-bureaucrats is a
first for Odisha as well.
Besides
the reputation that comes with winning the mandate in country’s leading Smart
City, these contestants have made the election battle interesting for political pundits.
It
was learnt that the BJP leadership had given a clear brief to Sarangi about her
role in Odisha politics, unlike to many local leaders. Hence, she jumped into the
electoral fray way before others started chalking out their campaign plans.
Sarangi
started her campaigning soon after joining the BJP, as did Arup, even as many within
the BJD wondered who will get the party ticket; after all, the regional party’s
president, CM Naveen Patnaik, is a master at keeping his cards close to his
chest, even from his own party members.
Now,
the campaigning has reached a fever pitch, and both candidates are going all
out to woo voters.
Past experience to serve Sarangi well
Sarangi
is unlikely to find it difficult to convey her message to the people and deal
with local issues because she has already served as commissioner of Bhubaneswar
Municipal Corporation and district collector of Khurda, under which this Lok
Sabha seat falls.
She
is known in Bhubaneswar as well as the whole of Odisha for her bold decisions, such
as introducing a uniform dress code for teachers, during her tenure as the municipal commissioner
and Odisha school and mass education secretary.
“I
am my biggest opponent. I am getting a lot of support from people wherever
I go, which is a very positive sign. Everyone wants parivartan (change)…”
said Sarangi.
In
a Twitter post, she wrote, “People in Begunia [an assembly segment under
Bhubaneswar LS seat] are rooting for change in Odisha this time. 19 years of
neglect, corruption and goonda raj has resulted in stagnant
socio-economic levels, lack of employment opportunities and farmer distress in
this region. Begunia is ready for #ParivartanInOdisha (sic).”
Just
like her career as an administrator, the BJP leader is trying her best to ‘bloom
the lotus’ in her Lok Sabha segment, campaigning from dawn till dusk. If Sarangi
wins, she will create history as the BJP hasn’t won this parliamentary seat
till date.
Ex-top cop banking on ‘popular’ CM
The
former Mumbai top cop, hailing from Puri district’s Delanga block, too, has been campaigning vociferously. He served in many positions in Maharashtra
during his 36-year-long career as a police officer. His role in the infamous
Lokhandwala shootout and the handling of the 1992-93 riots in Mumbai won him
accolades from several quarters. He was also the investigating officer in the
1993 Bombay serial blasts case.
Arup
has exuded confidence that the CM’s popularity coupled with people’s faith in
BJD will help him sail through.
“As
always, my main objective will be public service. During my time as a cop, I
did just that; now, I look forward to taking on the huge responsibility of
representing the people of this constituency,” he said.
Who are the other contenders?
Other
former bureaucrats, including Prakash Mishra (ex-Odisha DGP), Nalini Kanta
Pradhan (ex-works secretary of Odisha), and Sarmistha Sethi (ex-Odisha administrative
service officer) are also in the fray. Mishra is contesting for Cuttack Lok
Sabha seat from the BJP, while BJD's Pradhan and Sethi are contesting for Sambalpur
and Jajpur parliamentary segments, respectively.
Congress,
another principal party in Odisha, is counting on its pre-poll alliance to take
on the BJD and BJP; to that end, it has left the seat for CPI (M), which has
nominated its veteran leader Janardhan Pati.
How has the seat fared so far?
The
Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha Constituency (number 18) is one of the 21 in Odisha consisting of 16,00,900 voters — 8,64,256 men, 7,36,263 women,
and 381 transgender, as per the Election Commission of India 2019 draft
electoral roll data.
There
are seven assembly segments under it — Jayadev, Bhubaneswar Central,
Bhubaneswar North, Ekamra-Bhubaneswar, Jatni, Begunia, and Khurda. Prior to
delimitation (2008), the assembly segments under it were Bhubaneswar, Jatni,
Khurda, Begunia, Nayagarh, Khandapara, and Daspalla.
It
was earlier known as the Khurda Lok Sabha segment, and Congress’s Pandit
Lingraj Mishra was elected as its first MP in 1952.
The
BJD has controlled the seat since 1998, with Patasani (popularly
called Baba) getting elected to the Lok Sabha five times in a row —
1998, 1999, 2004, 2009, and 2014. Late CPI (M) leader Sivaji Patnaik was
elected from the seat thrice (1977, 1989, and 1991), while Congress candidates
managed to bag it in the rest of the elections.
During
the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Patasani got 4,39,252 votes (49.25%) and BJP’s Prithiviraj
Harichandan 2,49,775 (28%). Congress’s Bijay Mohanty came third with 1,45,783
votes (16.34%).
Of the total voters, only 4,83,992 (57.9%) men and 4,07,830 (58.94%) women cast their
vote in the last general elections.
More stories published under
World