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Aska Lok Sabha constituency comprising seven Assembly segments such as Hinjili, Polasara, Kabisuryanagar, Khallikote, Aska, Surada and Sanakhemundi is counted as one of the prestigious LS seats in Odisha as it was once represented by former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik and his son and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
This LS seat was won by BJD’s 70-year old Pramila Bisoyi, a non-political figure, in 2019. Despite doubts, she polled 5,52,749 votes and the BJD’s vote share was 54.52 per cent.
However, the seat is expected to witness an interesting battle between the BJD and the BJP in this election.
This time, the ruling party has given chance to a new face like Ranjita Sahu while the BJP has repeated its candidate Anita Subhadarshini, despite her defeat in 2019. Anita had polled 3,48,042 votes with BJP’s vote share recorded at 34.33 per cent.
Significantly, the BJP came up the second place in 2019 pushing down the Congress to the third.
Anita, a post graduate in political science with a bachelor’s degree in law, is the daughter of Ramkrushna Patnaik, a veteran leader of erstwhile Janata Dal, BJD and BJP. Patnaik contested as MP on a Congress ticket in 2004, but was defeated by BJD’s Hari Har Swain.
Interestingly, the BJD has been changing its candidates in this seat for the last four elections here instead of repeating anyone while the BJP’s vote share is on the rise.
Ranjita is a youth leader and daughter of Hara Prasad Sahu, a BJD leader and former chairman of Kodala notified area council. Her mother Sunitaprava Sahu is also former chairperson of Kodala NAC.
Ranjita has been active in Kabisuryanagar Assembly segment and heading Kabisurya Yubak Sangha.
Congress has fielded new face like Debakanta Sarma, a lawyer by profession, for the parliamentary seat. His father and Congress leader Rabindranath Sharma was looking after the party organisation, though he was not in any important posts in the party.
Aska Electoral History
In 2014, the BJD fielded Ladu Kishore Swain who defeated Congress candidate Srilokanath Ratha by a margin of 3,11,997 votes. BJD’s vote share was 53.41 per cent. BJP’s Mahesh Chandra Mohanty had got 67,361 votes and the BJP’s vote share was 6.64 per cent.
In 2009, the BJD had fielded Nityananda Pradhan who polled 4,19,862 and defeated Congress candidate Ramachandra Rath who polled 1,87,028 with 18.45 per cent vote share. Then, the BJP candidate Shanti Devi had got 42,165 votes with 4.16 per cent vote share.
In 2004, BJD’s Hari Har Swain got 3,81,526 votes and defeated Congress leader Ramkrushana Patnaik (father of the BJP candidate Anita Priyadashini)who got 2,48,924.
In 1999, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik contested as MP from the seat and won by polling 3,59,178 votes. His victory margin was 2,56,736 against his nearest rival Communist Party Of India’s Duti Krushna Panda. Congress candidate Chakradhara Sahu had then polled only 10,484 votes.
In 1998, Naveen Patnaik contested as BJD’s MP candidate and polled 3,10,751 votes. With 30.65 per cent vote share, Patnaik had defeated Congress’s Chandra Sekhar Sahoo who got 2,24,540 votes.
In 1996, former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik contested on a Janata Dal ticket and won the seat by polling 2,97,560 votes. Congress’s Ramachandra Rath was his nearest rival who polled 81,094 votes. Gopal Chandra Satapathy was the BJP candidate having polled 27,434. The BJP’s vote share was only 2.71 percent.
