Seven sitting MLAs, including former minister Raghunath Mohanty who is facing dowry torture charges, were denied tickets by the BJD for the forthcoming Assembly elections in the list of 15 candidates announced by Chief Minister and party chief Naveen Patnaik on Monday.
The fate of former minister Bedprakash Agrawal representing the Patkura Assembly constituency also hangs in balance as the candidate for the seat is yet to be announced. Announcement of candidate for Niali seat has also been withheld.
Mohanty, a prominent non-Congress leader in Balasore district and sitting MLA from Basta Assembly segment that he represented five times in a row since 1990, has been replaced by Nityananda Sahu. Independent MLA from Champua Jitu Patnaik, who had joined the party during last month’s Rajya Sabha elections, was also ignored by Naveen.