By Anurjay Dhal
BHUBANESWAR: Aul Assembly seat under Kendrapara Parliamentary segment in Odisha , has its own political identity for sending diversified leaders to Odisha State Assembly since 1951. From Sailendra Narayan Bhanjdeo in 1951 to Pratap Deb in 2019, Aul leaders have shaped their special identity in Odisha Assembly.
Incumbent MLA and Minister Pratap Deb, who holds Industry, Energy and MSME portfolios in Naveen Patnaik Government’s 5th term, is eyeing for a 5th term from Aul Assembly seat. If Pratap Deb wins in 2024, he will break his late father Raja Saheb Sarat Deb’s 4th terms record in Odisha Assembly.
Late Sarat Deb represented Aul in 1971, 1974, 1977, 1980. Minister Deb represented Aul in State Assembly in 2000, 2004, 2009, 2019 and only election he lost, it was in 2014. After he lost in 2014, Deb was made Chairman House Board and later sent to Rajya Sabha. Deb’s late mother Rajamata Sushree Devi also represented Aul in 1990.
Backed by massive development, Naveen Patnaik’s pro people policies and popularity, Deb is riding high this time and is all set to sweep the polls.
Even though, all the MLA candidates of 3 major parties are from Aul, read Pratap Deb of BJD, Krushna Chandra Panda of BJP and Dr Debasmita Sharma or Devendra Sharma of Congress , BJD seems in commanding position considering its organisational strength.
Since BJD announced Deb’s name for Aul, the scion of former Royal family is missing no stone unturned to reach out each Panchayats of twin blocks of Aul and Rajkanika.
Aul Assembly segment has near about 63 Panchayats, in most of which, BJD has an edge over BJP and Congress.
Pratap Deb won the Aul seat in 2019 by a margin over 55,000 votes defeating Congress’s Devendra Sharma . Deb had got around 99,837 votes with 57% vote share and his winning margin was 32.3 %.
In 2019 , Devendra Sharma of Congress had got 43,986 votes while BJP’s Dola Nayak bagged 26,487 votes. In 2019, around 2.63 Lakhs voters were cast their franchise while the figure may rise this time with entry of new voters into the list.
Since votes in Aul block heading for a divide into 3 groups of BJD, BJP and Congress , voters in Rajkanika block, may play a key role since not a candidate from this block find place in party’s candidate list. Congress is backing on its old guards while BJP put a new face , Krushna Panda into the fray. Since Deb, a seasoned and committed leader, BJD is strongly hopeful to retain this seat with an impressive margin.
