Slum votes likely to make a difference in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: With votes from the slums making a major difference in the civic body, assembly and Lok Sabha polls, both BJP and BJD are eyeing this section of the electorate in the Bhubaneswar parliamentary constituency.
The voting trend indicates that out of the nearly 39.6 per cent and 45 per cent polling in the 2008 and 2014 civic body polls, respectively, about 30 per cent votes came from the slums.
The BJD is trying to bank on the popularity and rapport of former Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) mayor Ananta Narayan Jena with slum-dwellers. The saffron party is likely to field former IAS officer and BMC commissioner Aparajita Sarangi from the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat to capitalise on her understanding of the problems in the slum areas.
Earlier, BJP had launched a free LPG connection scheme in the slums to woo voters. Out of Bhubaneswar’s (municipal area) population of 10 lakh, 3.5 lakh live in slums. Among them, there will be around 2 lakh voters in 536 slums.
Retired professor of political science Amareswar Mishra said the voting pattern in slums had played a key role in all polls in the city. “Given the low polling percentage, the party that gets the support of the slums can make a big difference. Slum-dwellers helped BJD win two successive civic body elections and form the corporation,” he explained. He also said the slum population was easily attracted to the promises of the candidates. “The slum voters are easily accessible,” he added.
In the 2009 elections (parliamentary and assembly), the city recorded a meagre 36 per cent polling. In 2014, it was 40 per cent. “We have been doing good work in the slums. It is not that we will concentrate only on the slum pockets. But I think given our work, we will be able to garner more votes from these areas than other parties,” said Jena, who had polled the highest number of votes (5,024) in the 2014 BMC poll in ward no. 47, a slum-dominated ward.
The BJP is also making efforts to garner slum votes. In June 2017, then Union minister Venkaiah Naidu and Dharmendra Pradhan lunched with the family of a slum-dweller at Salia Sahi, the biggest slum here, to promote ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’ programme.
The party’s vice-president Samir Mohanty said BJP was confident of winning the confidence of slum voters. “The Ujjwala scheme and BJD’s failure to rehabilitate the slum-dwellers will go in our favour,” he said.