Lok Sabha 2019 constituency: BJD will aim to retain Kandhamal seat in Odisha

Kandhamal is one of 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha and was created in 2008 after the presidential notification for the delimitation of constituencies.

Pratyusha Rajeshwari Singh of the BJD represents the Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat after she won the by-poll held in October 2014 following the death of her husband Hemendra Chandra Singh, a scion of the erstwhile royal family of Nayagarh. Hemendra Chandra Singh had successfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

Pratyusha Rajeshwari Singh recently resigned from the BJD.

Before that, Rudramadhab Ray of the BJD was the sitting MP from Kandhamal.

The ruling party in the state has chosen Achyut Samanta from Kandhamal seat in the Lok Sabha election 2019. The former member of Parliament Kharavela Swain, who was inducted into the BJP recently, has been given a ticket from Kandhamal parliamentary constituency, a part of the country’s Maoist belt.

The Congress has named Manoj Kumar Acharya for the Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat.

READ: All about Lok Sabha elections 2019

Voting will be held in Kandhamal on April 18 and the result will be declared on May 23.

Here are details about the Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat:

State: Odisha

Name of the Lok Sabha constituency: Kandhamal

Polling date: April 18

2019 candidates: Achyut Samanta (BJD), Kharavela Swain (BJP), Manoj Kumar Acharya (Congress)

Sitting MP, party: Pratyusha Rajeshwari Singh, BJD

Winning margin in 2014: 181,017

Runner up name, party:

Number of voters in 2014: 839,415

Percentage of votes polled in 2014: 73.40%

Number of women voters in 2014: 421,638

Number of polling booths in 2014: 1,497