Keen Assembly contest on the cards in Orissa

Keen contests are on the cards when Orissa goes into the second and final phase of Assembly elections in the state on April 26.

Keen contests are on the cards when Orissa goes into the second and final phase of simultaneous elections in the state on April 26 next.

HT Image

Considered to be more politically sensitive, ten Lok Sabha and 70 assembly constituencies in the coastal plains would be going to polls to chose between the well-entrenched BJD-BJP coalition and the Congress-led five party alliance.

In the first leg of the elections, voting was held in 11 Lok Sabha and 77 assembly constituencies in the southern and western belt on April 20 amidst apprehension about naxalite strikes in four districts bordering Andhra Pradesh.

Though security had been heightened to combat the ultras, no major naxalite attack except for snatching of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) in one booth in Malkangiri district was reported.

No such security threat is perceived in the constituencies going to polls on Monday next though security measures were being tightened for the exercise.

There are 46 candidates including five women in the Lok Sabha fray while 385 aspirants---25 of them of the fair sex--- were contesting the assembly elections in the second phase.

However, three BJP chief ministers, Narendra Modi of Gujarat, Arjun Munda of Jharkhand and Raman Singh of Chhattisgarh would be campaigning in the coastal districts for two days from tomorrow, party sources said.