Bhubaneswar: The BJP today announced its first list of candidates for the upcoming Odisha Assembly elections. The saffron party has fielded a total of 112 nominees in the first phase.
The list includes political heavyweights and several BJD deserters, including Ollywood stars Akash Das Nayak and Sidhant Mohapatra.
Manmohan Samal, President of the Odisha unit of the BJP, will contest from the Chandbali seat.
Heavyweights
Bargarh MP Suresh Pujari will contest for the seat of Brajrajnagar MLA as the party has nominated him from the constituency. He had defeated BJD’s Prasanna Acharya in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Sundargarh MLA Kusum Tete has been re-nominated by the BJP for the constituency. She had won the 2019 elections by defeating BJD’s Jogesh Kumar Singh.
In a bid to secure one of its strong forts, the saffron party has fielded four-time Sambalpur MLA Jayanarayan Mishra from the very constituency. Mishra has successfully contested from the seat as BJP candidate, four times– 2000, 2004, 2009 and 2019. In the last Assembly polls in Sambalpur, he had defeated BJD’s Raseswari Panigrahi.
In another re-nomination by the BJP, it has fielded three-time Keonjhar MLA Mohan Majhi from the same constituency. A winner from the seat in 2000, 2004 and 2019 polls, Majhi had beaten BJD’s Madhaba Sardar in the last elections.
Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo has made Patnagarh Assembly constituency a stronghold for the saffron party as he emerged victorious from the constituency in 1995, 2000, 2004, 2009 and 2014 polls. However, he lost to BJD’s Saroj Kumar Meher in the 2019 elections. The five-time MLA would look forward to avenging the defeat as the BJP has nominated him from Patnagarh again.
Bhawanipatna MLA Pradipta Kumar Naik has a good track record in the constituency as he was elected to the Legislative Assembly from the seat in 1995, 2000, 2004 and 2019. Banking on his good performance, the BJP has re-nominated him from the seat. The former Leader of Opposition in Odisha Assembly had defeated BJD’s Dusmanta Naik in the last elections.
Prithiviraj Harichandan has been nominated by the party from the Chilika constituency. Though he had lost to BJD’s Prasanta Kumar Jagadev in the 2019 polls, the BJP is hopeful of a victory from the seat. Son of veteran BJP leader Biswabhusan Harichandan, Prithiviraj has been a prominent figure for the party in bringing anti-BJD issues to fore through press conferences.
BJD deserters
The BJP has given tickets to multiple leaders who recently quit the BJD and joined the saffron party.
Former Bhubaneswar North MLA Priyadarshi Mishra, who resigned from the BJD and joined the BJP, has been nominated from the very constituency. The saffron party would be expecting Mishra to repeat the victorious performance of 2014 polls, in which he had defeated BJP’s Dillip Mohanty while contesting as a BJD candidate.
Jayadev MLA Arabinda Dhali has been nominated from the same constituency by the BJP. The former BJD leader who joined the BJP last month is a two-time MLA from Jayadev seat. He had successfully contested the polls in 2009 and 2019 on BJD ticket.
Adding some ‘star power’ to the list of candidates, the BJP has nominated Ollywood actors Sidhant Mohapatra and Akash Das Nayak from Digapahandi and Korei constituencies, respectively. While Sidhant was elected to the Lok Sabha from Berhampur seat in 2009 and 2014 elections as BJD candidate, Akash successfully contested from Korei constituency on BJD ticket in 2014.
