Sambalpur: Sambalpur Lok Sabha Politics; Local Leaders are barred from the Lok Sabha
Sambalpur: Despite being the namesake of the Lok Sabha Constituency, Sambalpur has seen limited representation from its leaders in Parliament. In the country’s 17 general elections, not a single leader from Sambalpur has been elected since the district’s division. The last time a Sambalpur leader, Bhavanishankar Hota of the Janata Party, was elected was in the 1989 elections. Unfortunately, he couldn’t complete his 5-year term due to the dissolution of the Lok Sabha. In the 1991 elections, Hota contested again but was defeated by Congress candidate Krupasindhu Bhoi, a leader from Bargarh. Before Hota, Banamali Babu represented Sambalpur in the 1971 elections. Krupasindhu Bhoi went to the Lok Sabha from this seat in the 1977, 1980, 1984, 1991, and 1996 elections, holding the rare record of being elected four times from the Sambalpur Lok Sabha seat.
Following the establishment of the Biju Janata Dal, Prasanna Acharya, a prominent leader from West Odisha and a Bargarh native, secured consecutive terms in the Sambalpur Lok Sabha. However, after the reorganization of Lok Sabha constituencies, Bargarh district was separated from Sambalpur Lok Sabha constituencies. Simultaneously, two assembly constituencies from Deogarh and Angul districts Aathamallik and Chendipada were merged with Sambalpur Lok Sabha constituencies.
Even in the 2009 elections held post-reorganization, no leader from Sambalpur managed to secure a seat in the Lok Sabha. Notably, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance dissolved, leading to the BJP fielding candidates against the BJD in the 2009 elections. During this election, two Sambalpur leaders, Surendra Lath from BJP and Rohit Pujari from BJD, were defeated by Congress candidate Amarnath Pradhan. Despite Surendra and Rohit being from the Sambalpur district, Amarnath Pradhan garnered significant support.
In the 2014 election, another leader from Sambalpur, Suresh Pujari, was nominated, but the BJD candidate, Nagendra Pradhan, emerged victorious. Amarnath had to settle for third place in that election. The substantial support from voters in the Chendipada and Aathamallik constituencies played a pivotal role in Nagendra’s success.
In the 2019 elections, Nalinikanta Pradhan, a charismatic leader, received substantial support from Chendipada and Aathamallik. However, the victory went to Deogarh Raja Nitesh Gangdev, the BJP candidate. Sharat Patnaik, the Congress candidate from Balangir in Sambalpur, secured the third position.
Considering the current political landscape, the likelihood of leaders from Sambalpur, representing major political parties, securing tickets for the Sambalpur Lok Sabha constituency in the upcoming 2024 elections appears very low.
