We confident of winning Bijepur by-polls: BJP Odisha chief

The BJP is confident of winning the by-elections on the Bijepur Assembly seat, said Odisha BJP state unit president Basanta Kumar Panda on Sunday.

"We are confident that BJP will win the Bijepur Assembly seat in the upcoming by-polls," Panda told reporters here.

He also added that though the final decision on the name of the candidate was yet to be taken and the central leadership's decision will be acceptable to all.

"We will leave the decision on the name of the candidate to the central leadership, whosoever they appoint as the candidate will lead the party," Panda said.

The Bijepur Assembly seat is expected to witness a heated contest between Chief Minister Navin Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the BJP.

While the BJP was able to make inroads into Odisha in this year's Lok Sabha elections, the BJD had come on top in the state elections.

Earlier on September 18, BJD had constituted a four-member Election Coordination Committee for the upcoming by-elections for Bijepur Assembly seat.

The party has appointed senior leaders Niranjan Pujari, Sushanta Singh, Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo and Sanjay Das Burma as members of the committee formed today.

Bijepur was one of the two constituencies from which Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had fought the elections held earlier this year.

The post had been lying vacant since Patnaik resigned from the seat in June, choosing to retain the Hinjli seat, which is home turf and from where he was elected for the fifth consecutive term, instead.

( With inputs from ANI )