Pratap Chandra Sarangi Is Going To Run For His Second Lok Sabha Term

Pratap Chandra Sarangi, the sitting MP is going to contest the 18^th Lok Sabha elections again on the BJP ticket from Balasore, Odisha. The date of voting for the Balasore Lok Sabha constituency election is June 1, 2024 (Phase 7). Congress fielded Srikant Kumar Jena and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) gave ticket to Lekhasri Samantsinghar as its Lok Sabha candidate from Balasore.

Sarangi won the parliamentary elections in 2019 and has won the assembly elections twice in 2004 and 2009. Sarangi has been the minister of state for animal husbandry, dairying, and fisheries and MSMEs. He is a national executive member of the BJP. He initially served as a volunteer of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and has worked for Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

Pratap Chandra Sarangi, the BJP MP, is well known for his educational in rural areas through the innovative concept of community-funded Ekal Vidyalaya or single-teacher schools. He also has been associated with the tribal student’s education in the state.

The current union minister, however has a dubious past.

In 1999, amidst religious tensions, a Hindu mob murdered Australian Christian missionary Graham Staines and his two children, with accusations aimed at the Bajrang Dal, a hardline right-wing group led by Mr Sarangi at that point of time.

However, an official inquiry failed to attribute the attack to any specific group. Subsequently, Dara Singh, who was also associated with the right wing group, and 12 accomplices were convicted in 2003, but the Orissa High Court later reduced Singh’s death sentence and acquitted 11 others due to insufficient evidence.

Balasore Lok Sabha Constituency

Balasore Lok Sabha constituency is comprised of 7 assembly regions including Badasahi, Jaleswar, Bhograi, Basta, Balasore, Remuna, and Nilgiri. It consists of part of Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts. 4 out of 7 seats were won by Biju Janata Dal, 2 by BJP, and 1 by IND. In the 2019 general elections, Pratap Chandra Sarangi won the parliamentary seat on a BJP ticket from Balasore. The BJP candidate secured 41.79 percent votes while the BJD candidate got 40.62% votes in the last Lok Sabha elections.

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) secured a significant improvement in the last polling in comparison to the Lok Sabha election results of 2014. In 2014 BJD received only 27.81% votes while in 2019 the party got 40.62% votes. In 2019, during the last Lok Sabha elections, the voter turnout was 75.59 percent in the constituency.

Balasore is a general category seat and defined as ‘Rural’. The literacy rate of the constituency is 67.65%. The SC, ST, and Muslim populations here are 18.7%, 18.59%, and 5% respectively.