Bhubaneswar: The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha on Saturday appointed senior observers for the Jharsuguda by-election.
The party supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik appointed three party veterans as senior observers.
The observers are – Prasanna Acharya, Devi Prasad Mishra and Sarada Prasad Nayak.
BJD on Friday nominated Deepali Das, daughter of late Health minister Naba Kishore Das, as its candidate for bypoll to Jharsuguda Assembly constituency scheduled on May 10. Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik announced Deepali as the party’s candidate hours before the meeting of district and senior observers of the party at Naveen Nivas.
Soon after Deepali’s candidature was announced, Revenue and Disaster Management minister Pramilla Mallick claimed the party will win the bypoll with a record margin of more than 50,000 votes. Her name was doing the rounds as the ruling party’s candidate for the bypoll as she has been undertaking extensive tours to different places of the Assembly constituency during the last one month.