BJP announces 112 candidates for Odisha Assembly elections, 5 turncoats get tickets
Bhubaneswar: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday re-nominated 21 of its 22 sitting MLAs in Odisha while announcing the list of candidates for 112 of the 147 Assembly constituencies in the state.
The lone legislator who has been denied the BJP ticket was Lalitendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra from Brahmagiri in Puri district. Mohapatra's niece Upasana Mohapatra has got the ticket from the Brahmagiri Assembly seat. There are eight women candidates in the list. They are Sundergarh MLA Kusum Tete, Sebati Nayak (Bonai), Babita Mallick (Binjharpur), Smrutirekha Pahi (Dharmasala), Kalpana Kumar Khara (Baliguda), Pravati Parida (Nimapara), Upasana Mohapatra (Brahmagiri) and Pratushya Rajeswari Singh (Nayagarh). As per the list, BJP state president Manmohan Samal will contest from Chandbali assembly segment in Bhadrak district while senior party leader and sitting MP from Bargarh Suresh Pujari will contest from Brajarajnagar Assembly seat. Pujari was denied the party ticket for contesting the Lok Sabha polls this time.The BJP has fielded Sisir Mishra against Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik from Hinjili Assembly constituency while former BJD MP Pratyusha Rajeswari Singh will contest against former minister and sitting MLA Arun Kumar Sahoo in Nayagarh assembly seat.
Leader of Opposition in the Odisha Assembly Jaynarayan Mishra will contest from his traditional Sambalpur assembly seat. Similarly, former minister and ex-BJP state president KV Singhdeo will contest from Patnagarh assembly seat in Bolangir district. His wife Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo is BJP candidate for the Bolangir Lok Sabha seat.Five turncoats from BJD, Arabinda Dhali, Akash Das Nayak, Siddhant Mohapatra, Purna Chandra Sethi and Priyadarshi Mishra were given BJP tickets. Arabinda Dhali will fight from the Jayadev assembly segment in Khurda district.
While actor-turned-politician Akash Das Nayak has been given the ticket for Korei Assembly segment in Jajpur district, former BJD MLA Priyadarshi Mishra will fight the polls from Bhubaneswar North seat. Former MLA Purna Chandra Sethi, who quit BJD and joined the BJP on March 26, will contest from Khallikote assembly seat. He had won two consecutive elections from the constituency in 2009 and 2014 but was denied a ticket in 2019.While the saffron party's youth leader Tankadhar Tripathy will fight the Assembly polls from Jharsuguda, MLA Kusum Tete will contest from Sundargarh Assembly seat and Biswaranjan Badajena from Jatni.
