BJP announces 112 candidates for Odisha Assembly elections, repeats most sitting MLAs
BHUBANESWAR: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday renominated 21 of its 22 sitting MLAs, except Bramhagiri legislator Lalitendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra for the upcoming Assembly election commencing on May 13.
Announcing candidates for 112 out of 147 assembly constituencies, the party has named Upasana Mohapatra, niece of Lalitendu and daughter of former Congress MLA late Lalatendu Mohapatra for the coastal seat of Brahmagiri under Puri parliamentary constituency.
After denying Lok Sabha ticket to sitting Bargarh MP Suresh Pujari, the central election committee of the BJP has nominated him for the Brajarajnagar assembly seat he had unsuccessfully contested three times.
Prominent faces on the list of candidates include state BJP president Manmohan Samal, who has been fielded from the Chandbali seat despite losing the last three elections in a trot.
Of the nine elections Samal has so far contested, he was only successful in 2004 by winning the Damnagar seat. He was the revenue minister in the coalition government led by Naveen Patnaik.
The other notable nominations are leader of opposition Jayanarayan Misha and sitting MLA from Bhawanipatna Pradipta Kumar Nayak. The party has reposed faith in them despite serious health issues. There were speculations that Mishra's daughter Subhashree and Nayak's wife may get the tickets for the respective seats.
The party has not named any candidate for the Nilagiri seat after the resignation of sitting MLA Sukanta Nayak, who switched camps to BJD on Sunday.
With the nomination of only eight women candidates, the BJP seems to be far away from its commitment of ensuring 33 per reservation for the fairer sex in the legislature. Senior leader and former minister Surama Padhi has been denied a ticket for the Ranpur seat.
The major beneficiaries in getting tickets are those BJD leaders parachuted into the saffron party just before the election.
Arabinda Dhali, who recently rejoined the BJP after a stint with the BJD, has been named as the candidate for the Jayadev seat, which he currently represents in the assembly
Similarly, popular actor and former BJD MP from Berhampur, Sidhanta Mohapatra, has been named for the Digapahandi seat, replacing another cine artiste Pinky Pradhan, who was aspiring for the nomination.
Another Odia actor and former BJD MLA from Korei, Akash Das Nayak, who joined the BJP two days ago, is now the saffron party candidate for this assembly seat. Priyadarshi Mishra is the other ex-MLA of BJD to get nomination from Bhubaneswar North.
The party has named Babu Singh for Bhubaneswar Ekamra and Jagannath Pradhan for Bhubaneswar Central seats, respectively.
While the saffron party's youth leader, Tankadhar Tripathy, will fight the Assembly polls from Jharsuguda, MLA Kusum Tete will contest from the Sundargarh Assembly seat, and Biswaranjan Badajena from Jatni.
Jagannath Pradhan has been fielded from Bhubaneswar Central, Babu Singh from Bhubaneswar Ekamra and Prithiviraj Harichandan from the Chilika Assembly seat.
The party also selected sitting MLA Suryabanshi Suraj, son of BJP leader late Bishnu Sethi, from Dhamnagar Assembly seat, Padmalochan Panda from Simulia, Rajendra Das from Soro, Gobinda Chandra Das from Remuna, Manas Kumar Dutta from Balasore, Braja Pradhan from Jaleswar, and Irasis Acharya from Bhatli.