Elections 2024: BJD announces first list of candidates for nine Lok Sabha, 72 Assembly seats

BHUBANESWAR: The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Wednesday announced the first list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Odisha. Odisha CM and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to share the list of the nine Lok Sabha candidates, namely for Sambalpur, Kalahandi, Bhubaneswar, Kendrapara, Nabarangpur, Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj, Aska and Koraput seats.

Naveen Patnaik will re-contest from the Hinjili Assembly constituency for a sixth term. Back in 2000, Patnaik became the chief minister of Odisha for the first time. BJD General Secretary Pranab Prakash Das has been pitted against Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan of the BJP in Sambalpur. Hours after joining BJD, the Biju Janata Dal announced Manmath Routray, son of Congress veteran leader Suresh Routraya, as the Lok Sabha candidate from Bhubaneswar.

Former Odisha Congress MLA Anshuman Mohanty, who joined Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on February 16, will contest the election from the Kendrapara Lok Saha seat. Pradeep Kumar Majhi, who left Congress on October 22, 2021 and joined BJD later on, is a nominee from Nabarangpur.

BJD filed former Indian Hockey Captain and Padma Shri awardee, Dilip Tirkey as the party nominee from the Sundargarh seat. Minister of Revenue and Disaster Management (Government of Odisha), a five-time MLA, has been named a BJD candidate from Mayurbhanj. The party fielded Lambodhar Nial from Kalahandi, Ranjita Sahu from Aska and Kaushalya Hikaka from Koraput. Further, the BJP declared 72 names out of 147 assembly seats.

BJD filed Jagannath Saraka as the party nominee from Bissamkatak, Raghunath Gamango from Gunpur, Anusaya Majhi from Rayagada, Debesh Acharya from Bargarh, Rita Sahoo from Bijepur, Snehangini Churia from Atabira, Susanta Singh from Bhatli, Ashiwni Patra from Jales war, Subhasini Jena- from Basta, Sanjib Mallick, from Bhandaripokari, Prafulla Samal from Bhadrak, Bishnubrata Routray from Basudevpur, Sanjay Das from Dhamnagar, Byomkesh Ray from Chandbali, Pramila Malik from Bijharpur, Pranab Balbantra from Dharmasala, Sujata Sahoo from Jajpur, Pritiranjan Ghadei from Sukinda, Sudhir Samal from Dhenkanal, Prafulla Mallick from Kamakshyanagar, Nursingha Sahoo from Parjang, Mukesh Pal from Pallahara, Sushant Kumar Behera from Chendipada, Niranjan Pujari from Sonepur, Nihar Behera from Loisingha, Saroj Meher from Patnagarh, Kalikesh Nayarayan Singh Deo from Bolangir, Tukuni Sahu from Titilagarh, Rajendra Dholakia from Nuapada, Nabina Nayak from Umerkote, Ramesh Majhi from Jharigaon, Kaushalya Pradhani from Nabarangpur, Manohar Randhari from Dabugaon, Pradip Dishari from Lanjigarh, Dibyashankar Mishra from Junagarh, Puspendra SinghDeo from Dharmagarh, Latika Nayak from Bhawanipatna, Saluga Pradhan from G Udaygiri, Mahidhar Rana from Kantamal, Pradip Amat from Boudh, Debi Prasad Mishra from Badamba, Debi Tripathy from Banki, Sauvik Biswal from Cuttack-Choudwar, Ranendra Pratap Swain from Athagarh, Pramod Mallick from Niali, Chandra Sarathi Behera from Cuttack-Sadar, Arvind Mohapatra from Patkura, Pratap Deb from Aul, Dhruba Sahu- from Rajnagar, Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak from Mahakalpada, Sunil Mohanty from Puri, Uma Samantaray from Brahmagiri, Sanjay Dasburma from Satyabadi, Rudrapratap Maharathy from Pipili, Bibhuti Balbantray from Jatni, Satyanarayan Pradhan from Ranpur, Ramesh Behera from Daspalla, Arun Sahoo from Nayagarh, Bikram Keshari Arukh from Bhanjanagar, Srikant Sahoo from Polsara, Latika Pradhan from Kabisuryanagar, Subhash Behera from Chhatrapur, Sanghamitra Swain from Sorada, Naveen Patnaik from Hinjili, Bikram Panda from Gopalpur, Biplab Patra from Digapahandi, Chanmanya Nanda from Chikiti, Chandrasekhar Majhi from Kotpad, Raghuram from Koraput, Manas Madkami from Malkangiri and Badrinarayan Patra from Ghasipura.

The Lok Sabha elections in Odisha, which comprise 21 constituencies, are set to take place in four phases. The voting dates have been scheduled for May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in Odisha, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) emerged as the dominant party, securing 20 out of the 21 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a single seat. However, the 2019 elections saw a shift in the political landscape.

The BJD's seat count was reduced to 12, while the BJP made significant gains, winning 8 seats. This change marked a notable increase in the BJP's presence in the state. The Indian National Congress (INC) also managed to secure a seat in the 2019 elections.