Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Wednesday introduced the names of 27 candidates for upcoming Assembly elections and 5 for Lok Sabha polls. With this, the BJD has fielded 20 candidates for the 21 Lok Sabha seats, barring Balasore. The social gathering fielded former BJP leaders Bhrugu Baxipatra and Parineeta Mishra from Berhampur and Baragarh Lok Sabha seats, hours after they joined the regional outfit.
Barring Baxipatra and Mishra, the three Lok Sabha candidates declared are Surendra Singh Bhoi (Bolangir), Manjulata Mandal (Bhadrak) and Dhanurjay Siddu (Keojhar). The social gathering has additionally dropped two sitting MPs – Chandrani Murmu (Keonjhar) and Chandrasekhar Sahu (Berhampur). Of the 5 Lok Sabha candidates, solely Mandal was renominated whereas the remaining are new. While Mishra and Baxipatra joined the social gathering throughout the day, Singh Bhoi had resigned from Congress and joined the BJD final week.
7 sitting MLAs denied tickets
The social gathering has additionally thus far introduced nominees for 99 meeting seats out of 147. Patnaik has denied tickets to seven sitting MLAs as they’ve been changed by new aspirants. The sitting MLAs who have been denied re-nomination are Parsuram Dhada (Soro), Ramesh Chandra Sai (Athamallik), Angad Kanhar (Phulbani), Bijay Shankar Das (Tirtol), Pritam Padhi (Pottangi), Pratap Jena (Mahanga) and Rajkishore Das (Moroda).
While Pratap Jena of Mahanga has been changed by his son Ankit, Morada MLA Rajkishore Das’s spouse Preetinanda Kanungo was nominated by the social gathering. Meanwhile, Soro MLA Parsuram Dhada, inside hours of being denied re-nomination, resigned from BJD. “I resigned from the party with a heavy heart,” he wrote to Patnaik. Former Phulbani MLA Debendra Kanhar, who was elected in 2009, additionally resigned from the social gathering with out revealing the rationale.
Seven girls candidates for Assembly polls
The 27-member list launched for the meeting elections included seven girls candidates. They are Anusaya Patra (Badasahi), Preetinanda Kanungo (Morada), Alaka Mohanty ((*27*)), Depali Das (Jharsuguda), Jayashree Kanhar (Phulbani), Suryamani Vaidya (Khalikote) and Majula Swain Aska.
The ruling social gathering had introduced its first list of candidates for 9 Lok Sabha seats and 72 meeting seats on March 27. The social gathering launched the second list of six extra candidates for Lok Sabha polls the identical day.
(With PTI inputs)
(*5*)Source hyperlink
