The usual pre-poll hustle and bustle for the upcoming simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls is palpably missing this time as the poll managers gear up for the fourth phase of nationwide elections in Odisha on 13 May.

The poll campaigning is slowly picking up pace, but it is showing no signs of touching high voltage proportion as was the case in 2019 twin polls in the coastal State, where poverty, unemployment and underdevelopment continues to emerge as a disturbing feature, along India’s eastern coast.

Contrary to trends elsewhere in the country, the poll scenario is dull and drab in major areas of the State.

For some reason or the other, people are marked by palpable disinterest towards the hustle and bustle of 2024 polls.

Odisha is going to simultaneous polls for the 147 Assembly and 21 Lok Sabha seats on May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) with 12 seats bagged the maximum number of seats, followed by the BJP (8) and the Congress (1).

In the last assembly election, held simultaneously with the general election in 2019, the BJD had recorded thumping electoral success winning 113 of the 147 seats. The BJP stood at distant second with 23 seats, followed by the Congress with 9. The CPM won one seat and another was bagged by an Independent.

Voters in Berhampur, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi and Koraput parliamentary seats and 28 Assembly seats under these constituencies will take part in the festival of democracy on 13 May.

The prevailing heatwave with mercury touching above 40 degree Celsius in majority of places in the State has definitely taken a toll on the electioneering. Barring exceptions, the poll rallies conducted so far failed to pull prospective voters to the venue to listen to leaders and candidates in the fray.

BJP star campaigner and Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president J P Nadda besides Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and BJD supremo Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik have embarked on a campaign trail. The rallies by top leaders are, however, marked by large attendance. But more than the spontaneity of people rushing to the rallies, the parties mostly mobilized crowds to add the much-needed steam to the campaigning.

The poll result this time will redefine the political future in the State, which has remained as a deeply entrenched citadel of Naveen Patnaik-led BJD, whether it is in Assembly or the Lok Sabha polls, since 2000.

In many places, the usual poll buzz is missing with hoardings, posters, banners and flags to woo the voters found few and far between.

The elections in the past often presented a festival-like environment. But that eludes this time. Disinterest of voters is seen everywhere. People are busy with their daily struggle of life and survival though scenes of voters talking of parties’ prospects at tea stalls, street corners, village meeting places like the daily market are scarce. But the intensity is not on a larger scale this time, said Amarenndra Rout, a voter from Bhadrak Lok Sabha seat.

“Musical chairs” politics of party hopping and switching political affiliation to fight polls has been staged in near-absurd proportions in Odisha. That has also not gone down well with conscious voters.

“Party changeover by politicians has become a rule rather than an exception in Odisha. Electoral musical chairs have turned the pre-poll scene theatrical. It has made a mockery of democracy. I have cast my franchise in each of the polls since the mid-seventies. I have never seen such a large-scale exodus and influx of leaders from one party to the other. Ethics and propriety has now become a thing of the distant past. Voters regardless whether they hail from urban or the rural areas are thoroughly disillusioned. That may be the reason for the pre-poll excitement missing in the State”, observed Mahendra Panigrahi, a retired government employee.