Bhubaneswar: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday announced second list of party candidates for six Lok Sabha seats in Odisha.
While former IPS officer and Odisha Mo Parivar Convenor Arup Patnaik has been fielded from Puri Lok Sabha constituency, ex-corporate honcho Santrupt Mishra is the BJD candidate from the prestigious Cuttack seat.
The second list was released a few hours after Naveen announced the fist list of party candidates for nine Lok Sabha and 71 Assembly seats.
Lok Sabha Constituencies & Candidates
Puri: Arup Patnaik
Dhenkanal: Abinash Samal
Jagatsinghpur: Rajashree Mallik
Kandhamal: Achyuta Samanta
Cuttack: Santrupt Mishra
Jajpur: Sarmistha Sethi
Arup, who was defeated by BJP’s Aparajita Sarangi in the prestigious Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha constituency in 2019 polls, replaces the ruling party’s Pinaki Mishra, who represented Puri in the outgoing House. Arup has been pitted against BJP’s Sambit Patra, who had lost to Pinaki in 2019.
Similarly, after BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahatab recently resigned from the party, Santrupt Mishra has been chosen for the Cuttack Lok Sabha seat. He will be fighting his maiden electoral battle.
Soon after being nominated from Puri, Arup thanked the BJD president for giving him an opportunity to contest from Puri. Stating that he belongs to Delang in Puri, the former Mumbai Police Commissioner said his supporters and the party are gearing up for the polls.
The ruling BJD has Nominated Avinash Samal, a doctor by profession, for Dhenkanal seat. Samal happens to be the nephew of Dhenkanal MLA Sudhir Samal. The regional has denied ticket to its sitting Dhenkanal MP Mahesh Sahoo.
The party re-nominated Rajashree Mallick for Jagatsinghpur Lok Sabha seat. Mallick is the sitting BJD MP from the constituency.
Kandhamal MP Achyuta Samanta also also been repeated by BJD to fight the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from the same constituency.
Similarly, the party has also re-nominated Jajpur MP Sarmistha Sethi to contest the 2024 elections from the same constituency. With this, the ruling party has re-nominated Samanta from Kandhamal, Mallick from Jagatsinghpur and Sarmistha in Jajpur.
