Bhadrak in coastal Odisha is an SC-reserved seat which is expected to witness a close contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha election. 

The tallest leader of Bhadrak, Arjun Sethi quit BJD recently after his son was denied ticket by Naveen Patnaik. Sethi is an eight-time MP with the distinction of winning the last five elections consecutively for BJD. He has also won contesting once for Janata Dal and twice on Congress ticket. His son Abhimanyu Sethi is BJP candidate from Bhadrak and will be facing Manjulata Mandal, who is wife of BJD MLA Muktikanta from Dhamnagar, which falls under Bhadrak Lok Sabha constituency, Also in the fray is Congress candidate Madhumita Sethi, daughter of former MP Ananta Sethi.  All three candidates are crorepatis. TMC and BSP have also fielded candidates from Bhadrak which goes to polls on April 29. 

Nitin Gadkari on campaign trail came to Bhadrak and accused  BJD of not doing enough for uplifting the condition of poor in the state. He said although Odisha is rich in natural resources, yet the common people languish in poverty. He also said that the work of laying railway track has been interrupted due to non-cooperation of the state government. 

The assembly segments under Bhadrak are: Soro, Simulia Bhandaripokhari, Bhadrak, Basudevpur, Dhamnagar  and  Chandabali.

In the last election, Arjun Sethi won the seat by around d1.80 lakh votes. Can he ensure victory for his son, after changing the party. Will Patnaik's gambit of fielding a political rookie work? That's the big questions which will determine the fate of this election.