Odisha: Dharmendra Pradhan, Sambit Patra hold roadshow in Pipili ahead of by-polls

Ahead of by-polls, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, along with BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra, on April 13 held a roadshow in Odisha’s Pipili. The BJP leader campaigned for party candidate Ashrit Pattanayak from the Pipili constituency. While taking to Twitter, BJP Odisha also informed that a delegation from the state BJP handed over a petition to the state chief electoral officer requesting him to deploy Central Forces in sensitive booths of Pipili and also complained about the partiality of Delanga Tehsildar which is hampering the Fair & Free by-election.  

Addressing the people, Pradhan sought votes for the BJP and reminded the people that Mahatma Gandhi had stayed in Pipili for eight days in 1938. Further, the Union Minister said the same should encourage the people in the area to bring back peace. “There is no peace in Pipili for the last 40 years. I appeal all to vote for the BJP and begin a new chapter here,” Pradhan said. 

When translated, the caption of the BJP Odisha post read, “A delegation from the state BJP today handed over a petition to the state chief electoral officer demanding that the Delang tehsildar's bias affect the by-elections and the deployment of central forces in the sensitive booths of the Pipili Delang constituency”. 

Odisha by-election 

The Election Commission has announced that the by-poll to the constituency will be held on April 17 along with the fourth phase of the assembly elections in West Bengal. Pradhan, along with Patra and party leader Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda, are star campaigners of BJP for the Pipili by-polls. The by-election to Pipili was necessitated after the death of the sitting BJD MLA Pradeep Maharathy on October 4 last year. 

Meanwhile, earlier this week, Odisha police deployed about 1,000 armed policemen in the Pipili Assembly segment in Puri district to ensure peaceful polling in the by-election. The DGP has said that the constituency has been divided into several security zones to ensure an incident-free poll. There are said to be as many as 80 critical booths that have been identified in the constituency.