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BJD declares fresh list of candidates for LS & Assembly seats

The party has nominated ex-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lekhashri Samantsinghar from Balasore Parliamentary constituency….reports Asian Lite News

 The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Thursday announced the fresh list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and Assembly elections.

BJD president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in a video message declared the names of nominees for one Lok Sabha and nine Assembly constituencies.

The party has nominated ex-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lekhashri Samantsinghar from Balasore Parliamentary constituency.

The former firebrand women leader had joined the ruling BJD on April 7, hours after resigning from the primary membership of BJP.

With the announcement of Samantsinghar’s candidature for the Balasore constituency on Thursday, the party has announced candidates for all the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

She will fight her maiden electoral battle against former Union Minister and senior BJP leader Pratap Chandra Sarangi as the principal opponent in the Balasore Parliamentary constituency.

The BJD also declared its candidates for nine state Assembly constituencies in the state.

The party has renominated five sitting MLAs while it fielded new faces in the four Assembly seats.

The party has renominated Braja Kishore Pradhan from Talcher Assembly segment in Dhenkanal Lok Sabha constituency, Ananta Narayan Jena for Bhubaneswar central Assembly seat, Rohit Pujari on Rairkhol Vidhan Sabha seat in Sambalpur district, Prabhu Jani from Laxmipur Assembly segment in Koraput Lok Sabha constituency and Chakramani Kanhar on Baliguda Assembly seat in Kandhamal district.

Meanwhile, veteran leader Prasanna Acharya has been nominated for Sambalpur Assembly seat, while the party fielded Giitanjali Routray in Paradeep assembly seat, this time replacing her husband and the sitting Paradeep MLA Sambit Routray.

The BJD has named Manorama Mohanty in Narla constituency in Kalahandi district, replacing Bhupinder Singh.

Similarly, Madhab Sardar has been fielded as the candidate for Telkoi Assembly segment in Keonjhar Lok Sabha constituency in place of defector Premananda Nayak who recently joined BJP after quitting BJD.

Nayak, the sitting Telkoi MLA along with BJP leader Arabinda Dhali have been disqualified by the Speaker Pramila Mallik from the state assembly on the ground of defection on April 10.

The BJD is yet to declare candidates for 30 more constituencies out of the 147 Assembly seats in the state.

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INDIA 2024 India News Politics

BJD releases first list of candidates for Lok Sabha, Assembly seats

BJD General Secretary Pranab Prakash Das has been pitted against Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan of the BJP in Sambalpur….reports Asian Lite News

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. (ANI)

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India News Politics

BJD, BJP hint at pre-poll pact in Odisha

BJD vice-president acknowledges talks about a possible alliance with the BJP but refrained from confirming its formation explicitly…reports Asian Lite News

Leaders from Odisha’s ruling party Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have hinted at a potential pre-poll alliance ahead of the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections and state assembly elections.

BJD leaders conducted a prolonged meeting at Naveen Niwas, the residence of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, while BJP leaders held a similar session in the national capital, discussing election-related matters, including the prospect of forming an alliance.

After more than three hours of discussions, BJD Vice-president and MLA Debi Prasad Mishra acknowledged talks about a possible alliance with the BJP but refrained from confirming its formation explicitly. Speaking to reporters Mishra said, “Biju Janata Dal will prioritise the greater interests of the people of Odisha. Yes, there were discussions on the issue (alliance).”

As per a press release issued by Mishra and BJD’s senior general secretary Arun Kumar Sahoo: “An extensive discussion was held under the leadership of BJD president and CM Naveen Patnaik with the senior leaders of the party today regarding the strategy of the upcoming Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections.”

Following a meeting chaired by BJP president JP Nadda in Delhi, senior BJP leader and MP Jual Oram admitted to discussions on a pre-poll alliance with the BJD. However, he clarified that the party’s central leadership would make the final decision on the matter.

“Yes, there were discussions on the alliance among other issues. The party’s central leadership will make the final call,” Oram, who personally opposed the alliance said.

Amid the speculation, the Congress on March 7 called the BJD in Odisha and the BJP “two sides of the same coin”, adding that opposition between the two parties is only “shadowboxing”.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, “We’ve always been saying that the BJD and the BJP are two sides of the same coin. The BJD has always supported the BJP in Parliament and whatever opposition the two show to each other in the state is merely shadowboxing. The cat appears to be emerging out of the bag!”

Both the BJD and BJP had previously denied media reports about a potential pre-poll alliance on February 29, with BJD national spokesperson Sasmit Patra and BJP’s Odisha election in-charge Vijay Pal Singh Tomar dismissing the reports as rumours.

Although no formal announcement has been made, speculations of the alliance have been rife after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s March 5th visit to the state. They gained momentum after Modi, during his speech in Odisha, attacked the Congress and INDIA bloc but remained silent in the Naveevn Patnaik-led Odisha government.

PM Modi launched multiple development projects worth over ₹19,600 crore in Odisha’s Jajpur district on Tuesday. CM Patnaik and Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Bishweswar Tudu were also present on the occasion.

BJD’s strartegy

Meanwhile, the BJD held an extensive discussion with senior leaders of the party on the strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections.

“An extensive discussion was held under the leadership of BJD President and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik with the senior leaders of the Party today regarding the strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections,” a press release from the BJD General Secretary Manas Mangaraj stated.

The state will complete 100 years of its formation by 2036 and hence the party as well as the Chief Minister intends to work for the greater interests of people of Odisha, the release stated.

“In the discussions, it was resolved that since by 2036, Odisha will complete 100 years of its statehood and BJD and CM has major milestones to be achieved by this time, BJD will do everything towards this in the greater interests of people of Odisha and the State,” it said.

Odisha has 21 Parliamentary constituencies. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) got the maximum number of seats followed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress. The BJD won 12 seats, BJP bagged 8 and the Congress won one seat.

The state has 147 Assembly constituencies. The BJD swept the state in the last polls, winning 113 seats in the 2019 elections held simultaneously with the general elections. The BJP came a distant second with 23 seats, followed by the Congress with 9, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) with 1 and an Independent candidate bagging another seat. (ANI)

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