Naveen Patnaik calls meet over Patkura poll

Bhubaneshwar: Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday convened a high-level meeting with party senior leaders to formulate strategy for the ‘battle of prestige” at Patkura in Kendrapara district.

Elections for Patkura Assembly seat will be held on July 20. Counting of votes will be held on July 24.

While senior leader Bijoy Mohapatra is contesting on BJP ticket for the seat, Jayant Mohanty is the Congress candidate for the election. The BJD has fielded Sabitri Agrawal, widow of former minister. In likelihood, it will be a contest between the BJP and BJD nominee.

Election to the Assembly seat was earlier scheduled to be held in the fourth phase on April 29. However, the election was countermanded following the death of the BJD candidate Bed Prakash Agarwal on April 20.

The ECI had again postponed the polls for 60 days due to cyclone Fani that hit the state on May 3.

After the meeting, BJD candidate Sabitri Agrawalla’s son Sanjay Agrawalla, who was also present at the meeting, said there is no challenge to the ruling party in the constituency, as people love and have so much admiration for the chief minister.