For election watchers, two Lok Sabha constituencies in Orissa have remained unresolved puzzles for over five decades.
For election watchers, two Lok Sabha constituencies in Orissa have remained unresolved puzzles for over five decades.
The coastal Kendrapara constituency, which the legendary Biju Patnaik had made his home turf, has always shown a thumbs down to the Congress after its nominee won the seat in the first-ever-election held in 1952.
Ever since, it has always backed non-Congress aspirants including Patnaik and the prominent socialist leader Surendranath Dwibedi.
Similarly, the Koraput constituency in the extreme south, has only elected Congress candidates ever since it came into existence in 1957.
It was Nityananda Kanungo who won the Kendrapara seat for the first time in 1952 defeating Socialist Party's Dhruba Charan Sahu. He went on to become a member of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet.
Kendrapara became a double constituency in 1957 when two PSP candidates, Surendranath Dwibedi and BC Mullick were elected.
Dwibedi, who went on to make a mark in the Lok Sabha with his oratory, won the seat twice thereafter in 1962 and 1967 defeating Congress leader Surendra Mohanty on both occasions.
However, Mohanty, contesting on the ticket of Utkal Congress, the regional outfit floated by Biju Patnaik after he quit the Congress, turned the tables on Dwibedi in the 1971 polls.
The severe cyclonic storm, which devastated Kendrapara district in October 1971 pitchforked Biju into centrestage as he supervised the rescue and rehabilitation measures there.
Biju was elected from the seat as a Bharatiya Lok Dal candidate in 1977 and also repeated the feat as Janata nominee in the next two elections in 1980 and 1984.
Interestingly, Kendrapara was the only seat which stood behind a non-Congress candidate when the Congress swept the polls to claim 20 out of 21 parliamentary seats in Orissa in 1980 and 1984.
Rabi Ray (Janata Dal) won the seat in 1989 and 1991 as Biju turned his focus on state politics and became chief minister in 1990. Ray went on to become the Lok Sabha speaker in his second term.
The seat was retained by Janata Dal's Srikant Jena in 1996 when he became a union minister, prior to the split in the Janata Dal leading to the formation of the Biju Janata Dal.
The BJD's Prabhat Samantaray was fielded from there successfully in 1998 and 1999 before Archana Nayak of the same outfit was elected from there in 2004.
Archana, who was denied the BJD ticket this time, joined the BJP and is contesting the elections from the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat.
The reverse of Kendrapara is being witnessed in Koraput where only Congress candidates have won on each occasion since 1957 with former chief minister Giridhar Gamang registering an incredible eight-in-a-row performance till 1998.
As he had become the chief minister in 1999, his wife Hema Gamang was chosen to contest from the seat in the polls held that year and won by over 14,000 votes.
The tribal leader returned for the 2004 elections and won the seat for the ninth time and is poised to make it to parliament for the tenth time now.
Gamang's uncle, Bhagirathi Gomango, was elected from Koraput, a reserved seat, in 1971 but decided to quit. Giridhar won the byelection and commenced his winning spree.
Former Orissa minister Jayaram Pangi, who lost to Gamang and his wife on six occasions, is contesting as a BJD candidate from Koraput this time as well.
The seat was first won by P Jagannath Rao and T Sanganna, both of Congress, when election was held in 1957. It was a double-member seat at that time.
Ram Chandra Ulaka of the Congress was returned from there in 1962 and 1967.
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