Tarun Pandey, son of former Jharsuguda MLA, to contest by-poll on Congress ticket
Jharsuguda: On Monday, the Congress party announced Tarun Pandey as its candidate for the Jharsuguda by-election in Odisha, which is scheduled to take place on May 10. Tarun Pandey is the son of the late Biren Pandey, who was a former Jharsuguda MLA and was elected to the Odisha Assembly three times on a Congress ticket in 1980, 1985, and 1995.
The decision to field Tarun Pandey as the candidate was made by a team of Odisha Congress led by senior leader and MLA Santosh Singh Saluja, who recommended his name along with that of Mahendra Naik, who had contested the 2019 Assembly elections from Jharsuguda, for the by-election.
The AICC release confirmed that the Congress President, Mallikarjun Kharge, had approved Tarun Pandey’s candidature for the by-election to the legislative assembly of Odisha – Jharsuguda.
The Congress party hopes to garner sympathy votes due to the recent death of Tarun Pandey’s father, Biren Pandey. The ruling BJD has named Dipali Das, daughter of Naba Kishore Das, whose death necessitated the by-poll, as its candidate, hoping to capitalise on the sympathy wave.
Meanwhile, the BJP is yet to announce its candidate, but Deogarh MLA Subhash Panigrahi hinted at the possibility of state party secretary Tankadhar Tripathy being fielded from Jharsuguda Assembly seat.
The nomination process for the by-poll will start on April 13 and end on April 20.
