Odisha Elections 2024: BJD Announces More Candidates; Rewards Lekhasri With Balasore LS Ticket

Bhubaneswar: Putting all speculation to rest, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Thursday named Lekhasri Samantsinghar as its candidate for Balasore Lok Sabha constituency for the upcoming elections.

Lekhasri was apparently rewarded after she quit Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and joined BJD.

Lekhasri has been pitted against veteran BJP leader and sitting MP  Pratap Chandra Sarangi, also a former Union Minister.

With her nomination, the ruling BJD has fielded women candidates in 33 per cent seats in Lok Sabha, a trend which the party had started in 2019.

BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who announced her candidature through a video message, also declared nine MLA candidates of the party.

The party repeated 5 sitting MLAs and sprung a surprise in Sambalpur.

Assembly Candidates: 

1.Laxmipur–Prabhu Jani

2.Paradip—Gitanjali Routray

3.Sambalpur—Prasanna Acharya

4.Rairakhol—Rohit Pujari

5.Telkoi—Madhab Sardar

6.Talcher—Braja Kishore Pradhan

7.Narla—Manorama Mohanty

8.Bhubaneswar Central—Ananta Narayan Jena

9.Baliguda–Chakramani Kanhar

The regional party has changed its candidate for Paradip and fielded Gitanjali Routray, who is the wife of sitting MLA Sambit Routray.

Gitanjali, also daughter-in-law of veteran leader late Damodar Rout, thanked Naveen Patnaik for reposing faith in her to fight the elections.

She said her father-in-law was elected from the seat and has done a lot of development for the area while her husband has also served the people in the constituency.

Similarly, the ruling party has nominated a new face in Narla Assembly seat. It has fielded Manorama Mohanty in place of Bhupinder Singh. Manorama has been a block chairperson twice.

Former minister Rohit Pujari, who has been representing Rairakhol since 2014, has earned a re-nomination and so also Ananta Narayan Jena despite opposition to his candidature. Braja Kishore Pradhan, Prabhu Jani and Chakramani Kanhar are the other 3 sitting MLAs to enter the poll fry again.

On the other hand, former Minister Prasanna Acharya, who has just recovered from injuries sustained in a road accident, has been nominated from Sambalpur Assembly seat. He will take on sitting BJP MLA Jayanarayan Mishra.

With sitting Telkoi MLA Premananda Nayak having switched sides from BJD to BJP, the regional party has fielded former Keonjhar MP Madhab Sardar from the Assembly constituency.

While the ruling party has now declared candidates for all 21 Lok Sabha seats, it is yet to pick nominees for 30 Assembly seats.