Bhubaneswar: Putting all speculations to an end, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Ashrit Pattanayak as the party’s candidate for the by-election to Pipili Assembly constituency in Puri district.
The saffron party had also fielded Pattanayak as its candidate from Pipili seat against Pradeep Maharathy in the 2019 general elections. He lost the election by a margin of over 15,000 votes from Maharathy.
Pattanayak had polled 72,731 votes. He had also contested the 2014 general elections from the same Pipili seat as an independent candidate, securing 18,000 votes.
Pattanayak while briefing media persons thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and State BJP president Samir Mohanty for keeping faith in him.
Notably, the ruling BJD and the Congress are yet to announce the names of their candidates for the by-election to Pipili Assembly seat.
The State Election Commissioner had issued official notification for the Pipili Assembly constitution by-polls March 23. The by-election will be held April 17.
PNN