Lok Sabha election 2019: Odisha Congress’s first list for 6 parliamentary, 36 assembly seats out

The Congress on Tuesday announced its first list of candidates for six Lok Sabha and 36 assembly constituencies in Odisha but could not finalise the names for eight assembly seats going to polls in the first phase.

The Congress on Tuesday announced its first list of candidates for six Lok Sabha and 36 assembly constituencies in Odisha but could not finalise the names for eight assembly seats going to polls in the first phase.

The Congress on Tuesday announced its first list of candidates for six Lok Sabha and 36 assembly constituencies in Odisha but could not finalise the names for eight assembly seats going to polls in the first phase. (ANI)

Odisha is represented by 21 members in the Lok Sabha and there are 147 assembly seats in the state.

Of the 21 Lok Sabha seats, three are reserved for the members of Scheduled Castes in Bhadrak, Jajpur, and Jagatsinghpur, while five are reserved for those belonging to Scheduled Tribes in Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Nabarangpur, and Koraput.

The eastern state will vote simultaneously for the Lok Sabha and assembly elections in four phases from April 11 to April 29. The result will be declared on May 23.

The Congress’s list came a day after the ruling Biju Janata Dal released its list of nine candidates for six Lok Sabha and 54 assembly seats.

The opposition party renominated candidates of Nabarangpur and Kalahandi Lok Sabha constituency, who had contested unsuccessfully in the 2014 election, but fielded four new faces for Sundargarh, Bargarh, Kandhamal and Berhampur parliamentary seats.

In Nabarangpur and Kalahandi, the party nominated tribal leader Pradeep Majhi and Bhakta Charan Das respectively. For Sundargarh Lok Sabha seat, George Tirkey will be the party’s candidate while in Bargarh, Congress chose Pradeep Debata. In Kandhamal and Berhampur Lok Sabha seats, Manoj Kumar Acharya and V Chandrasekhar Naidu will contest the Lok Sabha election 2019.

However, there was a widespread resentment among members after the Congress failed to announce the name of any candidate for the Koraput Lok Sabha constituency and eight of the 28 assembly seats that are going to polls in the first phase on April 11.

Kotpad, Laxmipur, Rayagada, Paralakhemundi, Umerkote, Bhawanipatna, Narla and Chhatrapur assembly constituencies will vote in the first phase.

Though Congress president Rahul Gandhi had promised during his visit to Odisha this month that the party would give preference to women candidates, the Congress list had just one woman.

On Monday, the BJD had given tickets to at least 13 women in the first list for the 63 assembly and Lok Sabha seats.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is yet to announce its list of candidates for any of the phases.