Tribal supporters celebrate on Uditnagar Parade Ground after victory of George Tirkey (picture below) of Samata Kranti Party from Birmitrapur near Rourkela. Picture by Uttam Kumar Pal

Bhubaneswar, May 16: While the BJD seems to be sweeping the polls, two smaller party leaders are putting up a good fight.

Former MP from Bhubaneswar Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, who contested from the Aama Odisha Party (AOP) and Biramitrapur MLA George Tirkey, who formed the Samata Kranti Dal (SKD), are locked in neck and neck contests in Khandapada and Biramitrapur, respectively.

Patnaik, who was expelled from the Congress, formed his own party, the AOP, and fielded candidates in around 95 Assembly constituencies. Along with Patnaik, other big names such as renowned jeweller Sunjoy Hans, former MP Mahameghabahan Kharabela Swain and Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda’s wife Subhashree Panda alias Mili Panda were also contesting from different Assembly and Lok Sabha segments.

Patnaik is locked in a close fight with BJD’s Anubhav Patnaik. Despite Modi wave reaping results for the BJP across the country, its candidate here is struggling at the third slot.

Patnaik, who is the son-in-law of former chief minister and current Assam governor Janaki Ballav Patnaik, was an MP from Bhubaneswar in 1996. Other big names of this party failed to make any major impact.

Hans, who was contesting from the Ekamra Bhubaneswar Assembly segment and Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha constituency, has performed poorly in both the seats. Kharabela Swain, another big name of the party, who had been a BJP MP from Balasore between 1998 and 2004, and was contesting from the Cuttack Lok Sabha seat, also fared poorly.

Subhashree Panda could not touch four figures. However, in the Begunia Assembly seat one of the AOP candidates has secured second place trailing behind the ruling party nominee.

Among other small parties, the SKD has managed to lead in one seat, creating a hope of capturing it. George Tirkey, the maker of this party — who was an Independent MLA from Biramitrapur last time, has again successfully defended his seat. Till today evening, he was way ahead from his nearest rival Sebeyan Aind of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), another small party. However, the major parties such as the BJP, BJD and the Congress are positioned next to them.

In Mayurbhanj district, two Assembly segments — Rairangpur and Saraskana — saw two JMM candidates performing relatively well to come second. Similarly, two candidates of the CPI in Bonai and Chhatrapur had been in second position.

Except these candidates and political parties, no other small parties have managed to make a mark in this year’s poll.

According to the Election Commission of India sources, people have preferred NOTA to these smaller parties in the Lok Sabha poll. Except few individual performances, all these small parties have not managed to woo their voters.

Besides the AOP and the SKD, there were unrecognised state parties such as the Odisha Jana Morcha (OJM), formed by expelled BJD leader and chief minister Naveen patnaik’s friend-turned-foe Pyari Mohan Mohapatra, and the Samruddh Orissa of retired bureaucrat Jatish Chandra Mohanty in fray. But, they could not make any difference in this poll.

Some national parties such as the Aam Admi party (AAP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the All India Trinamul Congress (AITC) and some others also had fielded their candidates in this poll, but none could make a mark.

Sources in the chief electoral officer, Odisha, said none of these small parties had performed well. “A large number of them would forfeit their deposits,” said an official.