Cong Fields Ex-Balangir MP Sarat Patnaik From Sambalpur LS Seat

Bhubaneswar: The Congress Central Election Committee on Wednesday announced candidates for one Lok Sabha and nine assembly constituencies for the ensuing elections in Odisha.

The party has decided to field former Balangir MP Sarat Patnaik from Sambalpur parliamentary constituency.

He was twice elected to the Lok Sabha from Balangir constituency in 1991 and 1996. He also held the post of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president from 2000 to 2004 and was replaced by J B Patnaik, a few months before 2004 polls.

The candidates for nine Assembly constituencies are as follows:

1. Ashwini Pujahari (Sambalpur)
2. Niranjan Patnaik (Ghasipura)
3. Jagdish Mohanty (Cuttack-Choudwar)
4. Abhishek Mahananda (Cuttack Sadar-SC)
5. Sukanta Tiadi Bhoi (Jayadev-SC)
6. Rajib Patnaik (Bhubaneswar Central)
7. Itish Pradhan (Bhubaneswar-North)
8. Pradeep Sahoo (Begunia)
9. Pradeep Swain (Chilika)

In Sambalpur Lok Sabha seat, Sarat Patnaik has replaced Amarnath Pradhan who had unsuccessfully contested in 2014 general elections.

In nine Assembly seats, Congress has replaced all candidates. They are Prithviraj Kuanr (replaced by Niranjan Patnaik), Sureshwar Mishra (replaced by Dr Ashwini Pujahari, former director of VIMSAR, Burla), Suresh Mohapatra (replaced by Jagdish Mohanty), Chandrasekhar Samal (replaced by Abhishek Mahananda), Benudhar Bhoi (replaced by Sukanta Tiadi Bhoi), Shuvendu Mohanty (replaced by Rajib Patnaik), Manoranjan Dash (replaced by Itish Pradhan), Prithvi Ballav Patnaik, son of ex-CM JB Patnaik (replaced by Pradeep Sahoo after the former refused to contest the election), and Manasi Pradhan replaced by Pradeep Swain.