Bhubaneswar: Biju Janata Dal president Naveen Patnaik will campaign for his party’s candidate for the Pipili bypoll on April 12 through the virtual mode.
This was informed by BJD leader and Minister Samir Ranjan Dash today.
“The Chief Minister will address the voters of seven zones which include the six Zilla Parishad zones and one NAC zone of the Pipili Assembly constituency at six places on April 12 through the virtual mode,” said Dash here today.
Dash said that Pipili has remained a fortress of the BJD and Naveen Patnaik and shall remain so. The results on May 2 will tell that Maharathy has returned, he added.
The BJD has fielded Rudra Pratap Maharathy, the son of sitting deceased BJD MLA and heavyweight Pradeep Maharathy.
The party has planned to fix LED screens at six places for the party chief’s poll campaigning on April 12 with just five days left for the bypoll scheduled to be held on April 17.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Ashrit Patnaik as its candidate for the bypoll who had lost to Pradeep Maharathy in the last election by a margin of 15,787 votes and had ranked second in the race.
Besides, the Congress has fielded Ajit Mangaraj, the candidate it had also nominated from Pipili in the last election. Mangaraj had unsuccessfully contested the election and had polled 9,830 votes.
Apart from the BJD, BJP, and Congress, 04 from unrecognized parties and 03 Independent candidates are in the fray for the bypoll.