None of the six Assembly seats, where bypolls have held earlier in Odisha, after 2019 General elections, have witnessed a high heat like that being witnessed in Padampur this time. The state of Odisha is going to witness yet another by-election in the Padampur assembly constituency that fell vacant following the demise of Bijaya Ranjan Singh Bariha, a 5-time MLA and a very strong tribal leader from Western Odisha. Even his father, Bikramaditya Singh Bariha, had served as MLA from this seat three times, demonstrating the Bariha family's clout in Padampur politics; this is possibly why the ruling BJD fielded Barsha Singh Bariha, the daughter of late Bijaya Ranjan Singh Bariha. The BJP, on the other hand, has nominated Pradip Purohit, a former MLA from the Brahmin caste.

The by-election in Padampur assembly comes at a time when BJP is hoping to hand yet another defeat to the ruling party BJD in a by-election, as it did in the recently held by-election in Dhamnagar, where the party managed to win the seat with a margin of 9881 votes, while on the other hand, for BJD, it has become a do-or-die situation before going to the assembly election in 2024. To win the election, the BJD has mobilised all of its resources and assigned various ministers, MLAs, and MPs to campaign for its candidate and dispel the rising anti-incumbency that the party is facing. Even Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has taken to the campaign trail, in contrast to the previous five byelections in which he did not campaign in person, making this byelection interesting to watch. On the other hand, from the BJP side, Union Cabinet Minister Dhamendra Pradhan has taken command of the election campaign into his own hands. But the Congress vote bank is in question. With the decreasing popularity of Congress and previous enmity between Bariha and Satyabhusan, it is said that the old voters might favour BJP.

While the BJD is hoping to get tribal votes, who constitute approximately 29% of Padampur's population, along with sympathy votes in favour of Barsha Singh Bariha, the BJP is fixing caste and community asymmetry by roping in disgruntled leaders from other parties, such as former Congress MP Sanjay Bhoi. Sanjay Bhoi is the son of former Union Minister of State Krupasindhu Bhoi, who himself was elected twice from Padampur and was a very senior leader in the Congress. But most importantly, he belongs to the Kulta caste, which is identified as a backward caste, constituting roughly 15% of the Padampur population. Both the BJP and the ruling BJD are eyeing the votes of the Bhois to win the election. Apart from fixing the caste equation, BJP is trying to raise the heat by highlighting the farmer issue & accusing Barsha of being ‘foreigner & outsider’ as she lived outside - from her perusing her education to her getting marriage and living in Puri. The party is also hoping to get anti-incumbency votes along with young voters who want change, but both parties are facing heat from chasi (farmers) over the issue of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojan and input subsidy, and it will be interesting to watch who will win the hearts of chasi on the upcoming 5th of December when the Padampur assembly constituency goes for the election.