Sambalpur, April 1: The issue of the establishment of a high court bench in west Odisha holds the centre stage in the Sambalpur Assembly constituency.

All political parties are trying to raise the issue during the electioneering here.

The Congress has nominated Sureswar Mishra for the Sambalpur Assembly seat. “The state government has cheated the people of the region on the bench issue,” he said. “Neither the BJD nor the BJP came to our support when we were on hunger strike,” he said.

Similarly, the BJP keeps criticising the BJD for failing to fulfil the bench demand. “The BJD fooled the people of this region. The BJP has supported the issue (of a high court bench), and we will continue to fight for this cause,” said BJP leader Govind Agrawal.

On the other hand, the BJD supporters said the Naveen government had seriously moved the Centre to take the necessary step. “The demand for a high court bench is genuine. The BJD government had written to the Centre regarding this,” said BJD candidate Raseswari Panigrahi.

The government had to defer the civic polls in the region in view of the lawyers’ agitation in support of a high court bench here.