Patkura assembly polls to be held on May 19: EC

Bhubaneswar: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday announced that election for Patkura assembly constituency under the Kendrapada Lok Sabha segment will be held on May 19, the last phase of the elections.
Polling for Patkura, which was earlier scheduled on April 29, was countermanded following the death of BJD candidate Bed Prakash Agarwalla on April 20 due to his prolonged illness. Agarwalla was 82-year-old.
Sources in the CEO’s office said only BJD will field a new candidate by May 1 while BJP and Congress will go ahead with the leaders who have already filed nominations for the seat.
Senior politician and BJP’s candidate for Patkura Bijoy Mohapatra welcomed the ECI’s decision to hold the election within the polling phase. “I welcome the decision of the Election Commission. The people of Patkura were concerned that polling for the assembly segment might get delayed indefinitely,” Mohapatra said.
Mohapatra added that the EC’s decision to hold the election on May 19 has foiled the conspiracy to cancel polling in Patkura. The senior politician is hoping for a return in his home turf Patkura, after a gap of almost two decades. Mohapatra had won from the assembly seat consecutively for four times between 1980 to 2000. He had made three unsuccessful attempts to win from Patkura in 2004 and 2009 and once from Mahakalpada assembly constituency in 2014.
Following Agarwalla’s demise, his son is expecting to contest from the seat on BJD ticket and get votes on sympathy grounds. “If the party wants, I will contest from Patkura assembly seat and seek votes based on my father’s goodwill. He had a strong organisation in Patkura and the people loved him,” said Sanjay Agarwalla, the son of late Bed Prakash Agarwalla, a six-time MLA from Kendrapada and Patkura.
As per the ECI notification, a scrutiny of nominations will be held on May 2 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is May 4.
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