Bhubaneswar (Odisha): The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Wednesday released the fifth list of nine candidates for the Assembly elections in the state.
BJD president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has announced the names of nine candidates for the assembly polls, scheduled to be held in four phases beginning from May 13.
Naveen Patnaik, son of former Odisha Chief Minister Biju Patnaik, will also contest from the Kantabanji assembly constituency in Balangir district of western Odisha along with his traditional Hinjili seat in the Ganjam district.
Naveen Patnaik in the 2019 Assembly elections had also contested from two seats. He won from both the Hinjili and Bijepur assembly segments in Bargarh district of western Odisha. However, Patnaik later resigned from Bijepur and retained the Hinjili seat. The nine BJD candidates announced by Patnaik included six women and four turncoats.
Apart from Patnaik, the BJD has fielded Laxmipriya Nayak from Chittakonda, Barsha Bariha from Padampur, Rajendra Chatria from Kuchinda, Arundhati Devi from Deogarh, Sanjita Singh from Angul, Dillip Nayak from Nimapada, Sulakhana Devi from Sankhemundi and Indira Nand from Jaipur seats.
The BJD president also inter-changed the candidature of two leaders. Rairakhol MLA Rohit Pujari has been nominated from the Sambalpur assembly segment while Prasanna Acharya will contest from Rairakhol. With this, the BJD has so far announced the names of 126 candidates out of the total 147 assembly segments in Odisha.
