Naveen Patnaik To Contest From Kantabanji; BJD Swaps Sambalpur, Rairakhol Nominees

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik will contest from two assembly constituencies in the upcoming polls in Odisha.

Announcing the fifth list of BJD candidates, Naveen on Wednesday said he would also contest from Kantabanji in western Odisha. The party had earlier renominated him from his home turf Hinjili, which he has represented five times in a row.

In 2019, he had won from Bijepur in western Odisha but gave up the seat and retained Hinjili in Ganjam district.

Naveen also mentioned that the party has swapped candidates in two Assembly constituencies. Former minister Prasanna Acharya will contest from Rairakhol and Rohit Pujari from Sambalpur.

The swapping came amid reports that Prasanna Acharya was unhappy with the party’s decision to field him from Sambalpur and was instead keen to contest from Rairakhol from where he was elected in 2009. He had even meet Naveen on April 12 and requested him to reconsider the decision.

The party has dropped four sitting MLAs, and rewarded as many turncoats. It has fielded six women in these nine Assembly seats.

CANDIDATES LIST

Naveen Patnaik (Kantabanji)

Indira Nanda (Jeypore)

Barsha Singh Bariha (Padampur)

Sanjukta Singh (Angul)

Dilip Nayak (Nimapada)

Laxmipriya Nayak (Chitrakonda)

Arundhati Devi (Deogarh)

Rajendra Kumar Chhatria (Kuchinda)

Sulakhana Gitanjali Devi (Sankhemundi)