BJP to change Pottangi nominee after candidate faux pas
BHUBANESWAR: The BJP will change one of its candidates out of the 112 it had announced for Assembly elections, to be held simultaneously with Lok Sabha polls from May 13.
This was informed by party’s Odisha election co-in-charge Vijay Pal Singh Tomar here on his return from New Delhi on Wednesday.
Without specifying the Assembly seat or name of the candidate, Tomar told reporters, “A scheduled caste (SC) candidate has been erroneously named against a seat reserved for scheduled tribe (ST).”
Sources said the party named Chaitanya Hantal, who belongs to SC category, for Pottangi Assembly constituency by mistake. One of the Assembly segments under Koraput parliamentary constituency, Pottangi is reserved for ST category candidates.
This came to the notice of the party when complaints started pouring in from tribal ticket aspirants from Pottangi. The state election committee of BJP has recommended two other names to the party’s central election committee for consideration and selection of one candidate for the seat, sources added.
On the announcement of candidates for the remaining 35 seats, Tomar said, names for a few Assembly seats will be declared within a day or two. The full and final list will be announced by April 20.
Asserting that BJP will perform well in the upcoming elections, he said the party will put up an impressive show both in Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies of the state. “There will be a double engine government in the state with a clear majority for BJP in the Assembly,” Tomar added.
Of the 28 Assembly seats under four parliamentary constituencies going to polls on May 13, the party has not announced candidates for nine. Four parliamentary constituencies will go to polls in the fifth phase. The party has already named candidates for all Assembly seats except Rourkela and Sanakhemundi.