Odisha Elections: Sitting BJD MLA Quits Party After Ticket Denial

Bhubaneswar: Hours after being denied ticket to contest the upcoming polls in Odisha, sitting Hindol MLA Simarani Nayak on Monday resigned from the primary membership of BJD.

In the resignation letter to BJD president Naveen Patnaik, the two-time MLA cited personal problem as the reason behind her decision to quit the party.  She also expressed her gratitude to the party supremo for giving her an opportunity to serve the people of Hindol Assembly constituency in Dhenkanal for 10 years.

The regional party has fielded Dhenkanal MP Mahesh Sahoo from Hindol.

The incumbent legislator had won the seat in 2019 by defeating BJP candidate Ashok Kumar Nayak by almost 19,000 votes.

The BJD has fielded five new faces in the six Assembly seats announced on Monday. Besides, Simarani Nayak, sitting MLAs of  Bari and Balikuda-Ersama – Sunanda Das and Raghunandan Das – faced the axe while sitting Raghunathpali MLA Subrat Tarai has been replaced by his wife Archanarekha. The party also nominated Ranjita Marndi, wife of sitting Bangiriposi MLA Sudam Marndi, having fielded the latter from Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha seat.

Tusharkanti Behera is the only sitting MLA in the list to have earned a renomination from Kakatpur.