BJD Inches Closer To Its Promise To Send 33% Women To Parliament

Bhubaneswar: BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday announced candidates for nine Lok Sabha and 36 Assembly seats.

The nine MP candidates are as follows

1. Bhubaneswar – Arup Patnaik
2. Balasore – Rabindra Jena
3. Mayurbhanj – Debasis Marandi
4. Kendrapara – Anubhav Mohanty
5. Jajpur – Sasmita Sethi
6. Bhadrak – Manjulata Mandal
7. Puri – Pinaki Mishra
8. Sambalpur – Nalinikanta Pradhan
9. Jagatsinghpur – Rajashri Mallick

According to party sources, the plan to replace Balasore MP Rabindra Jena with his wife Subasini was changed at the last minute after the party decided to field Dhamnagar MLA Muktikanta Mandal’s wife from the Bhadrak Lok Sabha Seat.

The party has, however, replaced seven sitting MPs in this list of nine. They are Nagendra Pradhan (Sambalpur), Arjun Sethi (Bhadrak), Rita Tarai (Jajpur), Ramachandra Hansda (Mayurbhanj), Baijayant Panda (Kendrapara), Kulamani Samal (Jagatsinghpur) and Prasanna Patasani (Bhubaneswar). The BJD leadership has reportedly assured a Rajya Sabha ticket to Prasanna Patasani.

In its first list on March 18, the BJD had announced names of candidates for nine Lok Sabha seats. They are Prasanna Acharya (Bargarh), Chandra Sekhar Sahu (Berhampur), Kousalya Hikaka (Koraput), Ramesh Chandra Majhi (Nabarangpur), Achyuta Samanta (Kandhamal), Puspendra Singh Deo (Kalahandi), Pramila Bisoi (Aska), Sunita Biswal (Sundargarh) and Kalikesh Singh Deo (Balangir).

Among the 18 candidates, six are women. They are Kousalya Hikaka, Pramila Bisoi, Sunita Biswal, Sasmita Sethi, Manjulata Mandal and Rajashree Mallick. The party has to pick one more woman candidate to fulfill its promise of fielding women in 33 per cent of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha. Dhenkanal is likely to see another woman nominee, the sources said.

While addressing a Mission Shakti programme in Kendrapara on March 10, Naveen had announced that Odisha will send 33 per cent women MPs to Parliament.