The Congress today released the first list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Odisha.  

Accordingly, the party has named candidates for 49 out of the 147 Assembly seats and eight out of the 21 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.

The Assembly elections will align with the Lok Sabha polls in Odisha to be held in four phases -- May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1. The results will be declared on June 4. 

Congress candidates

According to the list, sitting MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka has been renominated from the Koraput Lok Sabha constituency, while Congress leader Janardan Dehury has replaced George Tirkey in Sundargarh.

George Tirkey will take on former India hockey captain Dillip Tirkey of the BJD, and four-time MP Jual Oram of the BJP in the tribal-dominated Lok Sabha seat.

Noted actor Manoj Mishra has been fielded from Bolangir, while Amir Chand Nayak will contest the Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat.

Similarly, Droupadi Majhi, Bhujabal Majhi, Rashmi Ranjan Patnaik, and Sanjay Bhoi have been nominated from Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Berhampur, and Bargarh Lok Sabha constituencies.

Meanwhile, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee President Sarat Pattanaik will contest from the Nuapada Assembly seat, while senior leader and ex-IAS officer Bijay Patnaik has been fielded from the Paralakhemundi Assembly constituency in Gajapati district.

Sitting MLAs CS Raazen Ekka, Tara Prasad Bahinipati, and Santosh Singh Saluja have been renominated from Rajgangpur, Jeypore, and Kantabanji Assembly constituencies, respectively.

Similarly, Lipika Majhi, the daughter of Bhujabal Majhi, the party candidate for the Nabarangpur Lok Sabha seat, will contest the Dabugam Assembly constituency on a Congress ticket.

The party has also fielded veteran leader Narasingh Mishra’s son Samarendra Mishra from the Bolangir Assembly constituency.

Former India hockey team captain, Prabodh Tirkey, will contest the Talsara Assembly constituency in Sundargarh district, according to the list. 

BJP fields Odisha Assembly candidates

Earlier today, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had declared candidates for 112 constituencies out of the total 147 assembly seats.

The state BJP chief Manmohan Samal has been nominated from Chandabali assembly constituency in Balasore.

Similarly, senior party leaders Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo, Tankadhar Tripathy and Irasis Acharya have been fielded from Patnagarh constituency in Balangir district, Jharsuguda assembly constituency and Bhatli constituency in Bargarh district.

The party has retained most of the sitting MLAs while many new faces have also been named this time.

Many sitting MLAs including Jaya Narayan Mishra, Kusum Tete, Nauri Nayak, Subhash Chandra Panigrahi, Shankar Oram, Jayant Kumar Sarangi, Mohan Charan Majhi and Mukesh Mahaling have been renominated from Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Rengali, Deogarh, Biramitrapur, Puri, Keonjhar and Loisingha assembly constituencies of the state.

The party has also nominated new candidates for other many assembly constituencies.

The party has nominated Upasana Mohapatra in place of her uncle and sitting MLA Lalitendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra for the Brahmagiri assembly seat in Puri district.

The party has fielded Tejeswar Parida from Patkura assembly seat in Kendrapara district.

Many leaders who have recently joined the BJP have also been nominated for many assembly constituencies of the state.

Former BJD MLAs including Priydarshi Mishra and Arabnida Dhali have been fielded from Bhubaneswar North and Jaydev assembly seats. Similarly, Cine stars Sidhant Mohapatra and Akash Das Nayak who joined the party a few days back have been fielded from Digapahandi in Ganjam and Korei in Jajpur district respectively.

Notably, BJP has already declared candidates for all the 21 Lok Sabha constituencies for the upcoming elections in the state.

(Compiled from IANS)

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