Sambalpur/Bhubaneswar: Poll fever has gripped Bijepur with one day left for the end of nomination filing process and hardly two weeks for the conduct of bypoll.

The BJD on Monday showed its strength by organising a meeting and procession as the party candidate Rita Sahu, the widow of sitting Congress MLA Subal Sahu, filed nomination papers, while the Congress is gearing up for a mega show on Tuesday.

On last Friday, the BJP staged a procession and meeting, when its candidate Ashok Panigrahi filed his papers.

On Monday, Rita, accompanied by hundreds of state leaders, ministers, MPs and MLAs, moved in a large procession in the sub-divisional town and filed papers before the Padampur returning officer.

Ministers Prafulla Mallick, Sushanta Singh and Snehangini Chhuria, MPs Prasanna Acharya, Nagendra Pradhan and Prabhas Singh took part in the procession. Cine star and BJD leader Anubhab Mohanty also moved in an open jeep.

Earlier during the day, the BJD held a public meeting, in which the leaders narrated the achievements of the Naveen Patnaik government in Odisha and appealed the voters to remain with the ruling party for speedy development of the Bijepur constituency.

Rita, a homemaker who recently joined the BJD bandwagon, appeared before a large audience for the first time. She appealed to the people to support her for all-round development of the area.

Monday's procession and meeting was almost a show of strength against the BJP's procession on the nomination day on December 2. The BJP's Panigrahi had filed his papers in presence of state-level party leaders, including cine stars such as Mihir Das and Anu Choudhury.

On the other hand, Congress candidate Pranaya Sahu will file his nominations on Tuesday.

The AICC picked up Pranaya, a OPCC member and vice-chairman of the Gaisilet panchayat samiti, reportedly judging his bright chances of winning the seat. A three-time panchayat samiti vice-chairman, he is also associated with various co-operative and socio-cultural organisations of the area. The Gaisilet panchayat samiti falls under the Bijepur Assembly seat.

Senior Congress leaders feel that Pranaya stands a good chance as he is a popular grassroots leader and belongs to the farmers' community, which has a huge population in the area.

"Pranaya will win the seat, as Subal Sahu had represented it three times in a row since 2004. The people of Bijepur will definitely vote for the Congress this time too," said Congress leader Tara Prasad Bahinipati.

The party leaders are also hopeful winning the bypoll as former MLA Ripunath Seth, who was also an aspirant for party ticket this time, has extended his full support to Pranaya.