Behind BJD move to replace MLAs, senior faces with their wives, kin: anti-incumbency, ‘fear of defection’

While denying tickets to a slew of its sitting legislators and senior leaders across Odisha for the Assembly polls, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has, in many cases, replaced them with their wives or children in their constituencies, fearing “rebellion” and “defection”.

So far, the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik-led party has named 141 candidates out of the total 147 Assembly seats, which will go to polls simultaneously with 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state in four phases starting May 13.

In at least 12 constituencies, the BJD has replaced sitting MLAs or senior party leaders with their wives. In at least six other seats, the party has replaced such leaders with their children.

While the BJD had denied tickets to 40 of its sitting MLAs in the 2014 polls and 42 in 2019, this time it has replaced 52 of its legislators with new faces so far.

BJD insiders say that changing candidates, who have either won or lost multiple times, helps the party quell the resentment or even anger that the voters may have against some legislators. “Since such sitting MLAs and senior leaders hold sway in their respective constituencies, completely sidelining them would have backfired. Many of them would have crossed over to the BJP, which is on the rise in the state. Hence, after careful consideration, it was decided to replace them with their spouses,” a senior BJD leader said.

Significantly, the BJD and the principal Opposition BJP had recently held several rounds of negotiations over an alliance for the polls, but decided to go on their own ways after their talks failed over seat-sharing.

In Angul, sitting MLA and former minister Rajanikant Singh, who has been winning the seat since 2004, has been replaced by his wife Sanjukta. In the Surada