The ruling Biju Janata Dal on Wednesday released its first list of candidates for the ensuing Lok Sabha and Assembly elections springing no surprise barring a few new faces.
The party has renominated almost all the sitting MLAs, except V Sugnana Kumari Deo. BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will contest from Hinjili.
Announcing the names of candidates for five Lok Sabha and 30 Assembly constituencies at Naveen Nivas here, the Chief Minister said the rest of the candidates for the first phase of elections will be announced shortly.
The five Lok Sabha candidates named by the BJD are Dilip Tirkey (Sundargarh), Ladukishore Swain (Aska), Sidhanta Mohapatra (Berhampur), Arkakeshari Deo (Kalahandi) and Kalikesh Singhdeo (Balangir).
Tirkey, former India hockey captain, is a sitting member of the Rajya Sabha. He was elected unopposed to the Upper House of Parliament as one of the three BJD candidates on March 22, 2012.
Recipient of several awards, including Padma Shree, Tirkey’s name was making the rounds for the Sundargarh seat.
As expected, Sidhanta and Kalikesh, sitting Lok Sabha members from Berhampur and Balangir respectively, were renominated.
However, Ladukishore was nominated in place of Nityanada Pradhan, the sitting MP from Aska.
Arka Keshari, son of former BJP MP Bikram Keshari Deo, was a strong favourite for BJD ticket from Kalahandi.
Ministers who have been renominated are Revenue Minister Surya Naranan Patro (Digapahandi), Women and Child Development Minister Usha Devi (Chikiti), Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes Development Minister Lal Bihari Himirika, Minister of State for Commerce and Industries Niranjan Pujari (Sonepur) and Commerce and Transport Subrat Tarai (Raghunathpalli).
The other sitting MLAs who have been renominated include Ramesh Chandra Chyaupatnaik (Berhampur), Pradeep Kumar Panigrahi (Gopalpur), Purna Chandra Sethi (Khallikote), Debaraj Mohanty (Aska), Purna Chandra Swain (Soroda), Pushpendra Singhdeo (Dharamgarh), Rajendra Dholkia (Nuapada), Sarada Nayak (Rourkela) and Padmanav Behera (Birmaharajpur).
Latika Pradhan, a new face in the party, has replaced nine-time MLA V Sugnana Kumari Deo in Kabisuryanagar.
Deo had reportedly expressed her unwillingness to contest the elections this time on health grounds.
Former MLAs who lost the election last time but got the party ticket this time include Jogendra Behera (Loisingha), Hajji Mohd Ayub Khan (Kantabanji) and Balabhadra Majhi (Lanjigarh).
Former minister Mangala Kissan has been nominated from Rajganapur.
The other nominees are: Jagannath Sarka (Bissam Cuttack), Lambodar Nial (Khariar), Divyasingh Mishra (Junagarh), Anam Naik (Bhawanipatna), Dhaneswar Majhi (Narla), Binay Toppo (Talasara), Kusum Tete (Sundargarh), Dayanidhi Kissan (Bonai), Gita Sahu (Titlagarh) and Nalini Devi (Sanakhemundi).
The Chief Minister said that the party had received more than 5,000 applications for BJD tickets from every nook and corner of the State.