BJP to announce its candidate for Nuapada bypoll soon, says party in-charge Tomar

By Mahendra Darjee

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 8: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to announce its candidate for the upcoming Nuapada by-election in the coming days and the party will definitely win the bypoll, said BJP in-charge for Odisha, Vijay Pal Singh Tomar, on Wednesday.

 Tomar informed that the selection process has already begun and further discussions will be held in the party’s core committee meeting on Thursday.

When asked about speculation regarding Manmohan Samal’s name, Tomar said he had no specific information but confirmed that several names were under consideration.

The Congress has already announced Ghasirham Majhi, a prominent tribal leader, as its candidate. The BJP has many aspirants to contest the poll. While Abhinandan Panda who contested the 2024 elections and polled over 44,000 thousands votes to finish the third is eyeing party ticket, local Khariar Road NAC chairperson Dr Sonia Jain and BJP state executive member Jadumani Panigrahi have also put their hats into the ring.

The BJP core committee is scheduled to meet on Thursday at the state office under the chairmanship of the state president, with two in-charges and other committee members in attendance.

Meanwhile, BJP’s national organisation general secretary V. Satish and national general secretary B.L. Santosh are currently touring Odisha and will also participate in discussions regarding the Nuapada by-election. The meeting is expected to finalise the probable candidate and may also see discussions involving the state committee.

In another development, the BJD which desperately wants to retain the seat, on Wednesday constituted a steering committee involving six top leaders of western Odisha to oversee the party’s poll preparation and campaigning. The team headed by former minister Prasanna Acharya comprises Niranjan Pujari, Snehangini Chhuria, Niranjan Bisi, Tukuni Sahu and Ayub Khan.

he party also formed a Zonal Committee and a Local Action Committee to oversee the election. Those who made it into the Zonal Committee include Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, Sarada Nayak, Sudam Marndi, Debesh Acharya, Saroj Meher, Manohar Randhari, Rohit Pujari, Pradip Majhi, Jogesh Singh, and Bikram Panda.

The Local Action Committee comprises Adhiraj Panigrahi, Abani Joshi and Manoj Mishra.