The Brahmapur Lok Sabha seat in Ganjam district is among the key constituencies in Odisha. In the upcoming elections, the BJD will strive to retain the seat while a resurgent BJP aims to wrest it for itself.

Stakes are high in this constituency for the State’s both major political parties. It’s because the district’s former top BJD leader Pradeep Panigrahy is now the BJP candidate in Brahmapur while the BJD has fielded BJP rebel Bhrugu Baxipatra for the seat. So, both BJD and BJP have roped in party hoppers for the constituency.

Baxipatra had fought the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 from this constituency on a BJP ticket but lost to BJD’s Chandra Sekhar Sahu, who won by a margin of 94,844 votes.

Political observers forecast a stiff fight in the constituency between Panigrahy and Baxipatra this time. It is difficult to predict the winner as the earlier political scenario in the constituency has changed. 

The Brahmapur Lok Sabha constituency consists of Chhatrapur, Gopalpur, Brahmapur, Digapahandi and Chikiti Assembly segments in Ganjam district and Mohana and Paralakhemundi Assembly segments in Gajapati district. The number of voters is 15.67 lakh.

Panigrahy has to gain a good hold in the Paralakhemundi and Mohana segments, where Baxipatra, as a BJP candidate, had secured more votes than his BJD rival in the 2019 polls.

Baxipatra is confident of his victory as he says that his main strength is the development-related work carried out by the BJD in the last 25 years and the clean image of BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik. Moreover, Ganjam is Naveen’s home district.

The Congress has put up Rashmi Ranjan Patnaik as its candidate for the Brahmapur Lok Sabha seat and he will try his luck for the first time in electoral politics. He is familiar in some urban areas of the constituency and likely to gain some votes in tribals-dominated Mohana and Paralakhemundi Assembly segments.