Naveen Patnaik at the Odisha secretariat on Saturday. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 3: All eyes are focussed on Umerkote where the votes for the Assembly constituency will be counted tomorrow.

For Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal, the bypoll held on November 30 is considered to be an acid test of its popularity. The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, too, had made the by-election a prestige issue and are equally hopeful of gaining the seat from BJD.

BJD’s second-in-command Pyarimohan Mohapatra, who had virtually anchored the party’s campaign for the bypoll, has exuded confidence that they will win with a “comfortable” margin.

On the other hand, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Niranjan Patnaik claimed there was an undercurrent against the ruling party during the run up to the polls. “Let’s see how voters of the Umerkote Assembly constituency have finally reacted amidst allegations of misuse of official machinery and money power,” he said.

The BJP, which had held the seat between 2004 and 2009, is also confident of staging a come back.

Whichever party wins the seat, the bypoll results will hot up the political atmosphere in the coming days, believe Odisha’s political observers.

With the electoral test over, the ruling party is now bracing up to face two major tests — Shah Commission and Assembly session, scheduled to begin from Friday next.

The inquiry commission, headed by Justice M.B. Shah, to probe alleged mining scams in Karnataka, Odisha and other states, is scheduled to visit Odisha from December 7.

“We will extend all cooperation to the visiting team,” said Odisha’s chief secretary Bijay Patnaik.

Opposition parties and political activists, however, are bracing up to seize the opportunity to embarrass the government.

Last week, the Odisha government had issued notices to 57 mines for allegedly lifting ores excess to the allotted quota. It has also initiated a process for closure of 18 such mines. “This move was just a window dressing on the eve of Shah Commission’s visit,” said Odisha Congress chief whip Prasad Harichandan.

However, state steel and mines minister Raghunath Mohanty said: “Our government has been consistently cracking down on the mining mafia ever since the allegations of irregularities came to our notice.”

The Odisha secretariat today witnessed a flurry of activities ahead of the coming winter session of the Assembly. For about two weeks, ministers had stayed away from the secretariat and were busy campaigning for the Umerkote constituency bypoll.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, too, had not been attending the office because of a sprain in his right leg.

On Saturday, Naveen arrived in the secretariat with a walking stick and chaired the council of ministers and cabinet meeting. The meeting approved the first supplementary budget for the current fiscal. The cabinet finalised the food procurement policy for the coming year.