Ollywood actress Varsha Priyadarshini on Saturday headed for her electoral debut as the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) declared her as the party candidate for the Assembly elections scheduled in May.
Varsha, who joined the BJD two days ago, got the party ticket to contest the election from the Barchana constituency in Jajpur district.
The party fielded the actress sidelining sitting MLA and six-time legislator prominent leader Amar Prasad Satpathy, who represented the Barchana constituency in three consecutive terms.
Along with Satpathy, the tickets were also denied to five more BJD leaders, Bhagirathi Sethy, Minakshi Mahanta, Shashi Bhusan Behera, Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi and Sudhansu Sekhar Parida, who won the 2019 Assembly elections from Anandapur, Champua, Kendrapada, Simulia and Remuna, respectively.
The BJD selected Abhimanyu Sethi, Sanatan Mahakud, Varsha Priyadarshini, Ganeswar Behera, Subhashini Sahu and Bidyasmita Mahalik in places of above leaders.
This was as per the sixth list of party candidates announced by BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik on Saturday.
The 6th list of BJD candidates: Chilika-Raghunath Sahu, Anandpur- Abhimanyu Sethi, Saraskana-Debashis Marndi, Karanjia-Basanti Hembram, Remuna-Bidyasmita Mahalik, Simulia-Subhashini Sahu, Barchana-Varsha Priyadarshini, Kendrapada-Ganeswar Behera and Champua-Sanatan Mahakud.
