Filing of nominations for the 10 lok Sabha and 70 Assembly seats going to polls in the first phase on April 10 ended on Saturday.
The scrutiny of nomination papers would be held on March 24 and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is March 26. Ruling BJD, BJP and Congress have not forged alliance with any party for the ongoing election and fielded candidates in all the Assembly and Parliament seats of the State. Similarly, The Aama Odiaha Party, Samata Kranti Dal, CPI and CPM, Odisha Jana Morcha, Kalinga Sena, TMC, Samajwadi Party, Aam Aadmi Party and Samruddha Odisha have fielded candidates in most of the seats. According to Election Commission sources, as many as 191 candidates for 39 Assembly seats and 12 candidates for four lok Sabha seats filed their nominations on Saturday. The Parliament seats going to polls in first phase include- Baragarh, Sambalpur, Aska, Brahmapur, Kandhamal, Balangir , Kalahandi , Sundargarh, Nabarangpur and Koraput.