BHUBANESWAR: The central election committee of the BJP on Sunday announced the candidature of Goutam Samantray for the Jeypore Assembly constituency, which will go to polls in Odisha’s first phase on May 13.
Samantray was the party nominee in the 2019 election and came third by securing 33,805 votes. He will now face sitting MLA and Congress nominee Tara Prasad Bahinipati and Indira Nanda of the BJD.
With speculations that the BJD might not consider the candidature of three-time MLA and former minister Rabi Narayan Nanda from the seat, chances were high that he would switch camp to BJP. The saffron party was waiting for the BJD to announce its candidate for the seat. After the regional party nominated Indira, the wife of Rabi Nanda, the BJP had no option but to bank on Samantray, a local businessman.
Though a Congress stronghold, the BJD had won the seat thrice since 2000, twice when it was in alliance with the BJP till 2009. However, Nanda lost the 2014 and 2019 elections to Bahinipati after which he lost the confidence of the party. The BJD did not want to take a risk after learning that the BJP was in touch with Nanda, who had also given enough indication of switching over to the saffron party in case his request for renomination was turned down.
Interestingly, Bahinipati being a Congressman had tried his luck from the seat on a BJP ticket in 2009 when he was denied ticket by the party. He lost that election to Nanda by a slender margin.
With the nomination of Samantray, BJP has named candidates for 132 seats. The party is yet to announce candidates for 15 more Assembly seats.