The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress on April 2, 2024, released their candidates lists for the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Odisha.
The BJP has named candidates for 112 out of 147 Assembly seats. The party has retained almost all MLAs in the forthcoming elections and fielded more than 40 new faces in the list of 112 candidates. Three sitting MLAs of Nilagiri, Malkangiri and Brahmagiri Assembly constituencies have been dropped for different reasons. Of the 112 candidates, eight are women.
State BJP president Manmohan Samal will be contesting elections from Chandabali Assembly seat in Bhadrak district while former president Kanak Bardhan Singh Deo will contest from the Patnagarh constituency, which he lost in the 2019 Assembly election.
Leader of Opposition Jayanarayan Mishra has been renominated from the Sambalpur Assembly seat. His candidature assumes importance as his performance would be critical for the fate of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who is the party’s Lok Sabha candidate from Sambalpur.
“The party has fielded candidates after weighing their winnability. All 112 candidates have been carefully chosen. I am sure all of us we will do exceptionally well in the assembly poll,” said Mr. Mishra.
Eight Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leaders, who recently joined the BJP, have been accommodated in the first list of candidates.
Former Berhampur MP Sidhant Mohapatra, who recently quit the BJD to join the BJP, has been fielded from Digapahandi Assembly seat. Similarly, Akash Das Nayak, former BJD MLA, is now the BJPs’ candidate for Korei Assembly constituency in Jajpur district.
Former Leader of Opposition and Bhawanipatna MLA Pradipta Kumar Naik, who was bed-ridden for more than one year following COVID-19 infection, has been renominated from the same seat. The BJP has fielded Upasana Mohapatra, daughter of former Congress strongman late Lalatendu Mohapatra, from Brahmagiri.
Congress releases names for 49 Assembly seats
Meanwhile, the Congress has announced candidates for 49 out of 147 assembly seats and eight out of 21 Lok Sabha seats. Congress has fielded father-son duo Bhakta Charan Das and his son Sagar Charan Das from two different Assembly seats in Kalahandi district. Similarly, Bhujabal Majhi has been nominated for Nabarangpur Lok Sabha seat while his daughter Lipika Majhi will contest from Dabugaon assembly seat.
The Congress has retained its only sitting MP, Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, for the Koraput parliamentary seat.
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Sarat Pattanayak will contest from Nuapada Assembly seat in Nuapada district. It is to be noted that Mr. Pattanayak belongs to Balangir district. Former Indian Hockey player Prabodh Tirkey has been fielded by Congress from the Talsara Assembly seat. Former Chief Secretary Bijay Patnaik has been fielded from Paralakhemundi Assembly seat. Congress has fielded Manoj Mishra, Odia film actor, from Balangir district. Most of candidates of Congress hail from southern and western Odisha.
