BJD Retains Bhartruhari For Cuttack LS Seat

Bhubaneswar: Putting all speculation to rest, the BJD on Monday announced the candidature of senior leader and five-time MP Bhartruhari Mahtab for the Cuttack Lok Sabha constituency. Apart from this, the party also released a list of candidates for nine more Assembly seats.

The nine candidates are as follows:
1. Arabinda Dhali- Jaydev
2. Prashant Jagadev-Chilika
3. Jyotirindra Nath Mitra-Khurda
4. Rajendra Kumar Sahu-Begunia-Bolagad
5. Raj Kishore Dash-Morada
6. Nityananda Sahu-Basta
7. Romancha Ranjan Biswal-Deogarh
8. Sunanda Das-Bari
9. Basanti Marandi-Rairangpur

In its seventh list announced by the BJD in the evening, six sitting MLAs have been replaced. They are Sashi Bhusan Behera (replaced by Arabinda Dhali), Rajendra Kumar Sahu (replaced by Jyotirindra Nath Mitra), Prashant Jagadev (replaced by Rajendra Kumar Sahu), Praveen Chandra Bhanjdeo (replaced by Raj Kishore Dash), Debasis Nayak (replaced by Sunanda Das) and Sushil Kumar Hansdah (replaced by Basanti Marandi).

The party leadership this time has not given ticket to two senior leaders Sashi Bhusan Behera and Debasis Nayak.

The party has repeated Nityananda Sahu, the sitting MLA of Basta, and fielded three new candidates – Romancha Ranjan Biswal, Sunanda Das and Basanti Marandi.