The Odisha CPM has set a target to spend ₹20 lakh for campaigning in the prestigious Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat.
The CPM candidate for the seat, Suresh Chandra Panigrahi, told The Telegraph: “We lack the resources to go for a high-tech campaign like ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the BJP. They are spending crores of rupees on the campaign. But our strength is our cadres. For the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat, we have set a target to spend ₹20 lakh. We have so far mobilised ₹15 lakh.”
According to the Election Commission, the expenditure limit for a candidate contesting for a Lok Sabha seat is ₹90 lakh and for an Assembly seat, it’s ₹70 lakh. But the election expenditure of a candidate of a ruling party and its principal Opposition party goes into crores, the left parties alleged.
Panigrahi said: “We have not received any money through electoral bonds. Our well-wishers and sympathisers are donating money through Google Pay. We are fighting the election not with an objective to win it but to strengthen our network.”
The last time the party had won the seat was in 1991 when its candidate Sivaji Patnaik was elected. Patnaik had represented the seat in 1977, 1989 and 1991.
In 2019, the CPM had got only 23,000 votes and forfeited its deposit. “It’s not about how many votes you have got it, it’s about to send a message to the voters about the Left’s ideology. Election gives the right opportunity to disseminate the ideology.”
The dearth of funds has forced the CPM to go for a door-to-door campaign. “We are also organising motorcycle rallies in some places. We have prepared one lakh leaflets and one lakh postcards which are being distributed to highlight the Left party’s manifesto.”
Panigrahi said: “We are raising the issue of how the livelihood of the common people is under threat. The four pillars — judiciary, legislature, executive and the media — of democracy are relentlessly being attacked by the saffron party and the Modi-led government at the Centre is trying to undermine its position. The BJD is supporting them blindly. It needs to be exposed.”
Besides the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat, the party is contesting seven Assembly seats in Odisha. Currently, the CPM has only one MLA in the Odisha Assembly. Laxman Munda, the sitting MLA, is contesting from the Bonai Assembly seat in Sundergarh district again. Besides Bonai, the other Assembly seats in which CPM is contesting are Nilagiri in Balasore district, Ranpur in Nayagarh, Khurda in Khurda district, Salepur in Cuttack, Morada in Mayurbhanj and Chitrakonda Assembly seat in Malkangiri district.
Bhubaneswar votes on May 25