BHUBANESWAR: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Saturday announced candidature of former Nabard officer Abhiram Patnaik from the Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat.Patnaik had worked as the assistant general manager of Nabard before quitting service and joining politics. NCP Odisha president S Maqsood Ali said the party will field its candidates from the Kandhamal Parliamentary constituency and its Assembly segments - Bhanjanagar, Dasapalla, Boudh, Kantamal, Phulbani, G Udayagiri and Baliguda which go to the polls in the first and second phase elections. The candidates for the Assembly seats will be announced on Sunday.
Maqsood said the party has decided to field Abhiram as its candidate looking at his commendable work at grassroots level. Asked why NCP chose to field candidates only in Kandhamal in the first two phases of the polls, he said the decision was taken by the party leadership owing to its strong base in the area. “We had started mobilising our workers six months back and have received positive response from people in the area,” he said.
He said during the third and fourth phase of General Elections in the State, the party has decided to field candidates in Kuchinda, Jayadev, Ekamra-Bhubaneswar, Bhadrak and Balikuda-Ersama Assembly segments.
In 2014, NCP had fielded candidates in four Assembly segments in the State. However, it had failed to win any seat. The NCP will contest the upcoming polls in the State on its own and will not go for any alliance, the NCP leader said.