Finalisation of candidates for coming elections has become an uphill task for parties in Orissa as dozens of poll warriors find their traditional battlefields missing after delimitation of constituencies. Hit hard by delimitation exercise which has not only abolished some seats but changed the nomenclature of several others by converting general seats into reserved ones and vice versa,many sitting lok sabha members as well as MLAs are hunting for new seats and alignments. Among the affected lok sabha members are BJP's Dharmendra Pradhan,who happens to be the saffron party's national secretary,and BJD's Brahmananda Panda and Sugrib Singh. While Pradhan finds his parliamentary constituency of Deogarh abolished,the reservation status of the seats held by Panda and Singh had been changed in the wake of delimitation. Jagatsinghpur constituency from where Panda was elected to lok sabha in 2004 has now been reserved for Scheduled Caste (sc) candidates,while Phulbani,represented by Singh has been converted into general seat and no more reserved for sc. While Pradhan is believed to be eyeing Dhenkanal lok sabha seat,now represented by BJD's Tathagat Satpathy,Panda and Singh keep waiting for their party's decision on whether to field them for assembly polls from Barabadi-Cuttack and Daspalla segments respectively,sources said. With Jagatsinghpur becoming SC seat,Congress leader and former mp from the constituency Ranjib Biswal seems to be looking for a new turf,perhaps Kendrapara. Similarly,delimitation has also cast its shadow on a number of assembly segments by giving new dimensions to their reservation status and geographical boundaries,prompting heavyweights and even ministers to search for safe seats. The members of the BJD ministry whose seats saw change of reservation status include Energy Minister S N Patro,Agriculture Minister Surendranath Nayak,Health Minister Sanatan Bisi and School Education Minister Sanjeeb Sahoo. Following conversion of Mohana assembly seat in Gajapati district,represented by Patro,into ST constituency the Energy minister could be fielded by the ruling BJD from Digapahandi in neighbouring Ganjam sistrict,sources said. With his traditional bastion Kakatpur in Puri district now reserved for SC,Nayak has left the matter to be decided by BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. However,he appears to be desirous of contesting from nearby Nimapara. As Sanatan Bisi's home turf Rairakhol has been dereserved he has also left his fate to be decided by Naveen though he can shift to the newly carved out Rengali assembly segment. With Sahoo's constituency Biramaharajpur in Subarnapur district becoming SC seat,the BJD leader is exploring areas nearby while banking entirely on the party supremo. Prominent among the former ministers searching for new warfields due to change of reservation status of their seats is BJD's Padmanabha Behera whose Phulbani constituency has lost its reserved status. Several other former ministers including Kalindi Behera and Bishnu Das are also exploring fresh areas from where they could try their luck. After his Salipur seat was dereserved,Behera seems to be eyeing for Cuttack Sadar (SC) constituency. Similarly,Das who represents Jagatsinghpur assembly seat has been weighing various options as the constituency has lost its reserved status. A host of BJP leaders have also been adversely affected by delimitation. While former minister Manmohan Samal is likely to shift from Dhamnagar to Chandbali constituency,his party colleague and former minister Golak Naik mey be fielded from Baripada,reserved for st,as his home seat Khunta was dereserved. Prominent among the former ministers searching for new warfields due to change of reservation status of their seats is BJD's Padmanabha Behera whose Phulbani constituemcy has lost its reserved status. Several other former ministers,including Kalindi Behera and Bishnu Das are also exploring fresh areas from where they could try their luck. After his Salipur seat was dereserved,Behera seems to be eyeing for Cuttack Sadar (SCc) constituency. Similarly,Das who represents Jagatsinghpur assembly seat has been weighing various options as the constituency has lost its reserved status. A host of BJP leaders have also been adversely affected by delimitation. While former minister Manmohan Samal is likely to shift from Dhamnagar to Chandbali constituency,his party colleague and former minister Golak Naik may be fielded from Baripada,reserved for ST,as his home seat Khunta was dereserved. Also hit by delimitation are prominent leaders of Congress. Among those looking for new seats in the changed scenario are party legislators Narsingha Mishra,who relresents Loisingha,Habibullah Khan from Nowrangpur,Tirtol mla Chiranjeev Biswal and Taraprasad Bahinipati (Koraput). Affected by delimitation,senior Congress leaders including former chief minister Hemananda Biswal from Laikera and former state minisuer Jagannath Rout,who represented Dhamnagar,are also looking for new constituencies. Delimitation even seemed to have prompted some BJP leaders to quit the party and join BJD. They include State Planning board Deputy Chairman Bed Prakash Agarwal,who represents Kendrapara,and mlas like Mahesh Sahu (Talcher),Brundaban Majhi (Laikera),Ddhaneswar Majhi (Kesinga),Sananda Marandi (Kuliana) and Pramila Giri (Baisingha).
