BHUBANESWAR: Congress on Tuesday announced the first list of candidates for eight Lok Sabha and 49 assembly seats in Odisha.
The list includes president of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Sarat Pattanayak who will contest from Nuapada assembly seat and campaign committee chairman of the party, Bhakta Charan Das who will enter the fray from the Narla assembly seat.
The party has repeated the lone Lok Sabha member from the Saptagiri Ulaka seat while former MLA Bhujabal Majhi has been nominated from the Nabarangpur parliamentary constituency. Former chief secretary of Odisha and chairman of the election coordination committee Bijay Patnaik has been fielded from the Paralakhemundi seat.
However, the party has not nominated any one from the Gamang family or former MP from Koraput Jayaram Pangi who had returned to the party fold recently.
Former chief minister Giridhar Gamang, his wife and former MP Hema Gamang and son Sishir Gamang had returned to the Congress in January this year.
Sitting MLAs of the party, Tara Prasad Bahinipati, Santosh Singh Saluja and Ramesh Jena have been renominated by the party from Jeypore, Kantabanji and Sanakhemundi segments which they represented in the outgoing assembly.
The party has fielded Samarendra Mishra, son of veteran Congress leader Narasingha Mishra, Sagar Das, son of Bhakta Charan Das and Lipika Majhi, daughter of Bhujabal Majhi from Balangir, Bhawanipatna and Dabugaon assembly seats respectively.
The list also includes former Indian hockey player Prabodh Tirkey who will contest assembly polls from Talsara while Balabhadra Mahi who had resigned from BJD and joined the party recently has been given ticket for Lanjigarh assembly seat.
Former MLA Ramachandra Kadam will enter the fray from Pottangi seat. Former MP Sanjay Bhoi who returned to the party recently has been fielded from Bargarh Lok Sabha seat while Janardhan Dehury who had contested the 2019 assembly election as an independent from Bonai assembly seat has been given ticket from the Sundagarh Lok Sabha seat.
Cinestar Manoj Mishra, who recently joined the Congress, will fight from Balongir Lok Sabha seat in his maiden electoral battle. Cinestar Manoj Mishra, who recently joined the Congress, will fight from Balongir Lok Sabha seat in his maiden electoral battle.
The party has announced candidates for Lok Sabha seats except Aska which will go to polls in the first two phases on May 13 and May 20.