Rajgangpur, the final bastion of the Congress in the Sundargarh district, is under danger

Congress MLA CS Razzen Ekka may find it difficult to defend the grand old party’s last stronghold in the Rajgangpur Assembly seat in Sundargarh district against a formidable attack by the BJD and BJP.

Even devoted party men are unsure about Ekka’s chances of holding the seat given the tenuous organizational strength of the Congress in the district.

Anil Barwa of the BJD, the son of former minister and state vice president of the governing party Mangla Kisan, is up against Ekka. The BJP has put forth Narsingh Minz’s candidacy once again.

Ekka, a former Lieutenant Colonel in the Indian Army, was employed at the L&T Works medical facility in the Kansbahal area of Rajgangpur block when Congress selected him as its contender in 2019. Ekka prevailed, but by a narrow margin. However, he was the only Congress candidate to win; the other six Sundargarh Assembly seats went to the other candidates.

According to Congress insiders, Ekka’s excellent reputation endures even as his term comes to a close. He is seen as a non-performing MLA, meanwhile, since a significant portion of the Congress electorate is dissatisfied with him. People had trouble getting to their MLA as well.

The next election in Rajgangpur is expected to be a triangular battle including a current MLA, according to a senior Congress politician. However, the battle would mostly be between the BJD and the BJP, with the Congress coming in a distant third.

With 53,918 votes, Ekka narrowly defeated Kisan, who received 52,972 votes, by 946 votes in 2019. Remarkably, Minz, the BJP candidate, received 52,896 votes to place third. According to senior BJD leader Jitendra Das, the governing party won every Rajgangpur municipality poll in 2022 as well as every zilla parishad seat. The candidate of the governing party will win handily thanks to the BJD government’s people-oriented programs and development initiatives.

Political analysts said that in 2019, the bulk of tribal Christian votes went to the Congress, with BJD receiving the remaining votes. This time, things are probably going to go the other way around, as BJD’s Sundargarh Lok Sabha candidate Dilip Tirkey could win over the bulk of Christian votes for his party’s Rajgangpur candidate.

The majority of people, according to BJP candidate Minz, strongly approve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s development plan and social programs. Individuals are being persuaded by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s patriotic vision of a powerful and advanced country. Attempts were made to reach Ekka, but they were unsuccessful.