Odisha: BJP releases second list of candidates for Assembly elections

Bhubaneswar, April 16
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday released the second list of candidates for 21 more assembly constituencies of the state including two changes in its earlier list of candidates released on April 2.

Following the Delhi high court’s stay order on former union minister Dilip Ray’s conviction, BJP has fielded the senior leader from the Rourkela assembly segment under the Sundargarh parliamentary constituency.

The Delhi High Court had recently stayed the conviction of Ray who was earlier sentenced to undergo three years imprisonment in connection with a coal scam case.

The party has changed candidates for two assembly constituencies, Ranpur under the Puri Parliamentary constituency and Pottangi under the Koraput Lok Sabha constituency.

The BJP has named senior party leader Surama Padhy in place of Tapas Ranjan Martha from Ranpur assembly constituency in Nayagarh district.

Similarly, Chaitanya Nandibali has been named the party’s candidate from the Pottangi Vidhan Sabha seat in place of Chaitanya Hantal.

The party has also nominated Jagannath Nundruka, who had recently joined BJP after quitting the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), from Bisam Cuttack seat under Koraput Lok sabha constituency.

Nundruka, the former close aide of sitting MLA and BJD leader Jagannath Saraka, has replaced Siba Sankar Ulaka who was the BJP nominee for the assembly seat in the 2019 general elections.

Similarly, the BJP has given tickets to several other leaders who recently joined the party after leaving BJD. The party has fielded ex-BJD leaders Amarendra Das, Dambaru Sisa, Bhadav Hansda and Kailash Kulesika from Jagatsinghpur, Chitrakonda, Saraskana and Laxmipur assembly constituencies in the state.

The party has fielded Satya Sarathi Mohanty, and Somnath Pujari from Balikuda-Erasama and Dabugam assembly seats respectively.

The party had earlier named candidates for 112 constituencies out of the total 147 Vidhan Sabha seats in the state.