BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik on Monday announced candidates for six more Assembly seats.
While Dhenkanal MP Mahesh Sahoo will contest from Hindol, Archanarekha Behera has been fielded from Raghunathpalli, Sarada Prasad Jena from Balikuda-Erasama, Ranjita Marndi from Bangiriposi, Biswaranjan Mallick from Bari and minister of state for Home, Sports and Youth Services Tusharkanti Behera from Kakatpur.
Four sitting MLAs Simarani Nayak from Hindol, Subrat Tarai from Raghunathpalli, former minister Raghunandan Das from Balikuda-Erasama and Sunanda Das from Bari have been dropped.
Ranjita who has been fielded from the Bangiriposi is the wife of Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Sudam Marndi. Sudam has been fielded by the party from Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha seat. Similarly, Archararekha is the wife of Subrat Tarai.
Mahesh was replaced by Abinash Samal as the Lok Sabha candidate. He has been asked to contest from the Hindol Assembly segment in place of sitting MLA Simarani Nayak. Simarani, a two-time MLA, quit the party protesting the decision.
The Balikuda-Ersama MLA Raghunandan Das has raised a banner of revolt and said he is preparing for a show of strength at Balikuda before deciding on his next course of action in consultation with his supporters. Das said he will contest as an Independent from the seat, if required.
Interestingly, both Das and Jena had contested the 2014 Assembly election from the seat as Independents. While Das had polled 32,195 votes, Jena had got 23,948 against BJD candidate Prashant Kumar Muduli who got 59,538 votes. Jena had then joined Congress and switched to BJD. In 2019, Das had defeated Congress candidate Lalatendu Mohapatra.
Similarly, there has been strong resentment among supporters of former BJD MLA Surendra Sethi after the leadership ignored his claims for nomination from Kakatpur. He had won the seat on a BJD ticket in 2014. In 2019, he had been replaced by Tusharkanti Behera. Alleging Behera, the minister and sitting MLA, had neglected his constituency after winning, Sethi said he had remained connected with the people and carried forward the party organisation. He said he will file nomination as an Independent from the seat.
Sunanda, who had been eyeing a ticket from Bari, is also disappointed at being ignored by the party. She alleged the leadership never called her for a discussion on the issue.
With the latest list, the BJD has announced 141 candidates for the Assembly seats. Only six more candidates are left to be finalised.