LS polls: This big, fat Assam family has nearly 350 voters!

by Manisha Das

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

With nearly 350 voters, the family of the late Ron Bahadur Thapa of Phuloguri Nepali Paam in Assam's Sonitpur district is one of the largest that to exercise their franchise in Assam during the opening phase of polling for the Lok Sabha, on April 19.

Sonitpur, April 15: With nearly 350 voters, the family of the late Ron Bahadur Thapa of Phuloguri Nepali Paam in Assam's Sonitpur district is one of the largest that to exercise their franchise in Assam during the opening phase of polling for the Lok Sabha, on April 19.

The district falls within the ambit of the Rangapara assembly constituency and the Sonitpur parliamentary segment.
All memebrs of this family will cast their votes in the Sonitpur Lok Sabha constituency on April 19.

Ron Bahadur Thapa is survived by 12 sons and 9 daughters. He had five wives.
With a family of nearly 1200 members in total, nearly 350 members are to exercise their voting rights in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Ron Bahadur is also survived by more than 150 grandchildren.

There are nearly 300 families from the same ancestor living in the Phuloguri Nepali Paam area in the Sonitpur parliamentary constituency.

Til Bahadur Thapa, village headman of Nepali Paam village and son of the late Ron Bahadur, told ANI that there are around 350 people in their entire family who are eligible to cast their votes.

"My father came here along with my grandfather in 1964 and settled down in the state. My father had five wives and we have 12 brothers and 9 sisters. He had 56 grandchildren by his sons. I don't know the grandchildren from the daughter's side. In this election, there are nearly 350 members of the Thapa family in Nepali Paam who are eligible to cast their votes. If we count all children, then the total members of our family will be more than 1,200," Til Bahadur Thapa told ANI.

He, however, lamented that the family hasn't yet been able to avail the benefits of the welfare schemes of the state and the central governments.

"Our children received higher education but did not get any government jobs. A few members of our family went to Bengaluru and found private jobs. Some are working as daily wage labourers. I have been working as a village pradhan since 1989. I have 8 sons and 3 daughters," Til Bahadur said.

He added that his father raised 12 sons and 9 daughters.
Sarki Bahadur Thapa, another son of the late Ron Bahadur, told ANI that there are around 1200 members in the family.

"We have a big family of which there are around 350 members, who are eligible to cast their votes," Sarki Bahadur Thapa said.
According to the family members, Ron Bahadur died in 1997, leaving behind his big, fat family.
Sarki Bahadur Thapa, now 64, has three wives and 12 children.

There are in excess of16.25 lakh voters in the Sonitpur Lok Sabha seat, which is made up of 9 assembly segments.
Elections to the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam will take place in three phases--on April 19, April 26 and May 7.

(ANI)

BJP Leader Sambit Patra Files Nomination For Puri Lok Sabha Seat

by Hemanta Pande

Puri, April 29: Many senior leaders of various political parties in Odisha on Monday filed their nomination papers for the upcoming simultaneous Lok Sabha polls and Assembly elections.

Among the heavyweights from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), party spokesperson and its candidate for Puri Lok Sabha constituency, Sambit Patra, filed nomination papers at the district collector's office on Monday.

BJP's nominee for Pipili Assembly seat, Ashrit Patnaik, also filed the nomination papers at the deputy collector's office.

Patra along with Patnaik, embarked on a mammoth rally from Uttara on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar to Puri before filing the nomination papers on Monday. Hundreds of party workers took part in the BJP rally from Pipili to Puri.

Sambit Patra had lost the Puri Lok Sabha seat after a close fight with the Biju Janata Dal's candidate and lawyer Pinaki Misra in the 2019 general election.

BJD has fielded former Mumbai police commissioner and ex-IPS officer, Arup Patnaik against Patra in Puri Lok Sabha constituency this time.

Meanwhile, Congress has nominated Sucharita Mohanty from the Puri Lok Sabha seat.

Similarly, BJD heavyweight Sanjay Das Burma, the party's candidate for the Satyabadi Assembly seat, reached Puri by taking out a huge rally along with party workers and filed his nomination papers on Monday.

Filing of nominations commenced in the state on Monday for the third phase of the Odisha leg of polling on May 25.

Polling will be held in six Lok Sabha constituencies -- Puri, Dhenkanal, Sambalpur, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Keonjhar -- of the state on May 25.

On the other hand, several other leaders, including former Union Minister Dilip Ray, filed the nominations in their respective constituencies.

Ray has been fielded by the BJP from Rourkela Assembly seat.

Assembly and Lok Sabha elections will be held simultaneously in Odisha in four phases from May 13 to June 1. The results will be out on June 4. (IANS)

Congress Eyes Revival In South Odisha; Rahul, Revanth To Hit Campaign Trail On May 3

by Hemanta Pande

Bhubaneswar, April 29: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth and Reddy will hold an election rally in Odisha’s Rayagada district on May 3, Friday, the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) said on Monday.

Bordering Andhra Pradesh, Rayagada which comes under Koraput Lok Sabha constituency, has socio-cultural affinities with the undivided Andhra Pradesh as it has got a sizable number of Telugu-speaking population.

Apart from the party's Koraput, Behrampur and Nabarangpur Lok Sabha candidates, thousands of Congress workers and leaders from Rayagada, Koraput, Malkangiri and Gajapati districts will join the rally, sources informed.

Congress which ruled Odisha for more than four decades, is now the third major force in Odisha politics after the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the main opposition party. Its vote share in the state dipped to 16 per cent in 2019. Of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state, it could win only one seat — Koraput — in 2019. In South Odisha, the party could win only two assembly seats – Jeypore in Koraput district and Mohana in Gajapati district. Though the grand old party won only nine of the 147 assembly seats in the state with a vote share of only 16 per cent, its vote share in South Odisha stood at 25 per cent.

“We will win at least 40 seats in south and western Odisha districts this time. People of Odisha are now frustrated with the BJD government which is very much hand-in-glove with the BJP. Both the parties are systematically exploiting the people of Odisha,” said OPCC campaign committee chairperson Bhakta Charan Das.

Das informed that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will also carry out a massive election campaign in South Odisha.

“Priyanka Gandhi will address an election rally in Nabarangpur on May 10. The OPCC is in the process of finalizing Mallikarjun Kharge’s campaign,” said the OPCC campaign committee chairperson.

Rahul Gandhi, while addressing a poll rally at Salipur in Cuttack district, had targeted the ruling BJD saying it had looted the state’s mineral resources, pushed the state into poverty and left the youths in a state hopelessness sans suitable job opportunities for them.

Read More: Odisha News

BJD Infighting Intensifies Ahead Of 2024 General Elections

by Hemanta Pande

Bhubaneswar, Apr 29: The intra-party wrangling in the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) appears to have intensified across Odisha ahead of the simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and State Assembly.

Just as elections are coming closer, disgruntled leaders from BJD and their supporters are taking to the streets. From Kanabanji to Nimapara, from Deogarh to Kabisuryanagar furious protests were held in many assembly segments after the sitting MLAs or aspiring candidates were denied party tickets to contest the ensuing polls.

The frustration over ticket allocation led party members to stage protests and in some cases submit resignation letters to the party president, political observers believed.

According to sources, the severe infighting among BJD leaders came to fore in Kantabanji Assembly segment, from where BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will contest this time apart from his usual seat of Hinjili.

Tension gripped in Kantabanji BJD unit after some supporters of party leader Giriraj Singh Majhi, who was hopeful for a party ticket from Kantabanji, clashed with a section of BJD workers during the ruling party's "Misrana Parba" (joining ceremony) and workers' meet in front of the Banamali palace in the western Odisha town yesterday, in the presence of senior BJD leader and Minister Niranjan Pujari.

For the first time in the last 24-years, say political analysts, the BJD supremo is facing serious internal resistance to his candidature for the Assembly elections.

Similarly, thousands of supporters of sitting MLA and former Minister Samir Ranjan Dash took out a massive rally recently, demanding reconsideration of his candidacy for Nimapara seat in Puri district.

Dash and his supporters are conducting a series of meetings over the alternate course of action if the ruling party would not reconsider his candidature for Nimapara segment, sources said.

Similar reports of alleged infighting among multiple ticket aspirants of BJD surfaced in Deogarh under Sambalpur Parliamentary constituency, Kabisuryanagar of Ganjam district and several other assembly segments across the State.

Several senior leaders including sitting MPs and MLAs resigned from the primary membership of the ruling party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the last two months.

Despite the top BJD leaders pledging to contest the elections unitedly under the leadership of CM Naveen Patnaik, recent developments suggest that dissent and dissatisfaction may cost heavily to the ruling party in both Assembly and Lok sabha Polls.

LS polls: This big, fat Assam family has nearly 350 voters!

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