Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday announced the party’s first list of candidates for nine out of 21 Lok Sabha and 54 out of 147 Assembly seats.
Incidentally, the BJD is the first among the parties to come out with poll candidates’ lists.
The nine Lok Sabha candidates include Chandra Sekhar Sahu (Berhampur), Kousalya Hikaka (Koraput), Achyuta Samanta (Kandhamal), Puspendra Singh Deo (Kalahandi), Ramesh Chandra Majhi (Nabarangpur), Prasanna Acharya (Bargarh) Sunita Biswal (Sundargarh), Pramila Bisoi (Aska)
and Kalikesh Singh Deo (Balangir).
As per his earlier announcement, Patnaik has chosen women candidates in 33 per cent of the nine LS seats. Koraput and Sundargah have got women candidates.
The candidates who would be in the first phase poll fray include Jagannath Saraka (Bissam Cuttack), Raghunath Gomango (Gunupur), Lal Bihari Himirika (Rayagada), Raghuram Padal (Koraput), Prabhu Jani (Laxmipur) and Rabi Narayan Nanda (Jeypore) under the Koraput LS; Sadashiva Pradhani (Nabarangpur), Subash Gond (Umarkote), Manohar Randhari (Dabugaon), Padmini Dian (Kotpad) and Purna Chanda Baka under the Nabarangpupr LS; Dushmanta Naik (Bhawanipatna), Bhupinder Singh (Narla), Dibya Sankar Mishra (Junagarh), Mausudi Bag (Dharmagarh), Rajendra Dholakia (Nuapada) and Lambodhar Nial (Khariar) under the Kalahandi LS and Bikram Keshari Panda (Berhamapur), Dr Pradeep Kumar Panigrahy (Gopalpur), Surjya Narayan Patro (Digapahandi), Usha Devi (Chikiti), Subash Chandra Behera (Chhatrapur), Kalyani Gajapathi (Paralakhemundi) and Purnabasi Nayak (Mohana) under the Berhampur Parliamentary constituency.
The Assembly candidates announced by the BJD for the second phase polls are Manjula Swain (Aska), Purna Chandra Swain (Surada), Nandini Devi (Sanakhemundi), Naveen Patnaik (Hinjili), Srikant Sahu (Polasara), Latika Pradhan (Kabisuryanagar) and KK Suryamani Baidya(Khalikote) under the Aska LS constituency, Chakradhar Kanhar (Baliguda), Saluga Pradhan (G Udaygiri), Pradip Kumar Amat (Boudh), Mahidhar Rana (Kantamal), Bikram Keshari Arukha (Bhanjanagar) and Ramesh Behera (Daspalla) under the Kandhamal LS seat; Tukuni Sahu (Titlagarh), Saroj Meher (Patnagarh), Niranjan Pujari (Sonepur), Ajay Das (Kantabanji) and Padmanabha Behera (Biramaharajpur) under the Balangir LS seat; Debesh Acharya (Bargarh), Snehangini Chhuria (Attabira), Susanta Singh (Bhatli), Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha (Padampur), Naveen Patnaik (Bijepur) and Naba Kishore Das (Jharsuda) under the Bargarh LS seat and Jogesh Kumar Singh (Sundargarh), Mangala Kishan (Rajgangpur), Stephen Soren (Talsara), Sarada Prasad Nayak (Rourkela), Subrat Tarai (Raghunathpali) and Ranjit Kishan(Bonai) under the Sundargarh Parlimentary constituency.
From the list, it is known that candidates for the four Assembly seats to go to polls in the first phase on April 11 and five candidates for the second phase polls on April 18 have not been announced by the ruling party.