Bhubaneswar: Biju Janata Dal president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Monday announced the names of six more candidates for the Assembly elections, denying nomination to five sitting MLAs.
With the announcement of six names, the BJD has so far announced the names of 141 candidates for the 147 Assembly constituencies. The party has already nominated candidates for all 21 Lok Sabha seats.
The five sitting MLAs denied tickets were Simran Nayak of Hindol, Raghunandan Das of Balikuda-Ersama, Subrat Tatariu of Raghunathpalli, Sunanda Das of Bari and Sudam Marndi of Bangiriposi.
Marndi has been fielded by the BJD from the Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha seat while his wife Ranjita Marndi has been nominated by the regional party from the Bangiriposi Assembly segment.
The BJD has renominated Sports Tusharkanti Behera from the Kakatpur Assembly segment in Puri district.
Patnaik offered BJD nomination to wives of two sitting MLAs – Sudam Marndi and Subrat Tarai. Marndi’s wife Ranjita Marndi has got the ticket from Bangiriposi and Tarai’s wife Archanarekha Behera has been fielded from Raghunathpali.
The BJD has nominated Dhenkanal MP Mahesh Sahu from Hindol Assembly segment, Sarada Prasanna Jena from Balikuda-Ersama and Biswaranjan Mallick from Bari Assembly constituency.
The opposition BJP has announced the names of 132 candidates while the Congress named 135 nominees.
Here is the seventh list of candidates:
Hindol: Mahesh Sahu
Raghunathpali: Archanarekha Behera
Balikuda-Ersama: Sarada P Jena
Kakatpur: Tusharkanti Behera
Bangiriposi: Ranjita Marndi
Bari: Biswaranjan Mallick
PNN & Agencies