BJD declares candidates for 9 Lok Sabha constituencies and 72 assembly seats

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik will contest from his pocket borough Hinjili assembly seat in Odisha, which will see simultaneous polls to Assembly and Lok Sabha in four phases beginning from May 13

Updated on: Mar 27, 2024, 17:25:24 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Wednesday announced the candidates for nine of the 21 Lok Sabha constituencies and 72 of the 147 assembly constituencies for the upcoming Parliament and Assembly elections in Odisha with chief minister Naveen Patnaik fielded from Hinjili assembly seat.

Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik. (File)

Patnaik announced the names of the candidates from Naveen Niwas even as the party changed 13 in the Assembly and 7 in the Lok Sabha list.

For the prestigious Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha constituency, the party chose former Air India pilot Manmath Routray, who joined the BJD a few hours ago. Routray is the younger son of Congress veteran and six-time MLA Suresh Routray.

For Sundargarh Lok Sabha seat, the party reposed its faith on former Captain of Indian hockey team Dilip Tirkey who had contested from the same seat in 2014 but lost to BJP veteran and former Union tribal affairs minister Jual Oram.

Odisha would see simultaneous elections to Assembly and Lok Sabha in four phases beginning from May 13.

In the prestigious Sambalpur Lok Sabha constituency, from where Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan is fighting on a BJP ticket, the BJD has chosen its organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das, son of former Janata Dal veteran Ashok Das.

The other notable names in the Lok Sabha candidate list are revenue minister Sudam Marndi for Mayurbhanj, former Congress MLA Anshuman Mohanty for Kendrapara and former Congress MP Pradeep Majhi for Nabarangpur.

The BJD dropped sitting MP Anubhav Mohanty from Kendrapara. For Kalahandi Lok Sabha constituency, the party gave ticket to Lambodar Nial who had lost from Khariar assembly constituency in 2019 election. In Aska Lok Sabha, the party chose a newcomer, Ranjita Sahu, in place of Pramila Bisoyi, a former self-help group (SHG) leader.

Nearly 90% of the BJD Lok Sabha candidates whose names featured today did not contest Lok Sabha polls in 2019. Of the nine BJD Lok Sabha candidates, only Kaushalya Hikaka contested in 2019

Among the candidates for 72 Assembly seats, 13 are new faces. The BJD has swapped its candidates, who had fought 2019 from Bhadrak and Bhandaripokhari and also from Brahmagiri and Satyabadi. Kalikesh Singh Deo, who was earlier an MP, has been fielded from Bolangir assembly constituency this time.

The list has family members of several sitting MLAs. Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat candidate Ansuman Mohanty is the son of former BJD minister late Nalinikanta Mohanty while Arabinda Mohapatra, son of former minister Bijay Mohapatra will contest from Patkura. Biplab Patra, son of former minister late Surya Narayan Patra, will contest from Digapahandi while Sunil Mohanty, son of former minister late Maheswar Mohanty, is the party candidate from Puri assembly constituency.

Subasini Jena, wife of former Balasore MP Rabindra Jena is the party candidate from Basta assembly constituency.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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