Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik to contest from two assembly seats
BJD president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will also contest from Kantabanji assembly constituency in Bolangir district of Western Odisha along with his traditional Hinjili seat in Ganjam district. This was announced by Patnaik himself on Wednesday while releasing the 5th list of nine candidates for the Assembly elections in the state.
Patnaik in 2019 assembly elections had also contested from two seats. He won from both Hinjili and Bijepur assembly segment 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. The party has dropped four sitting MLAs — Purna Chandra Baka (Chitrakonda), Kishore Chandra Naik (Kuchinda), Rajnikant Singh (Angul) and Samir Ranjan Dash (Nimapara)…
Patnaik has also rewarded four turncoats and nominated them to contest the assembly polls. They were: Arundhati Devi (Deogarh), Dillip Kumar Nayak (Nimapara), Rajendra Kumar Chhatria (Kuchinda) and Laxmipriya Nayak (Chitrakonda).
The six women candidates are Laxmipriya Nayak (Chitrakonda), Barsa Singh Bariha (Padampur), Arundhati Devi (Deogarh), Sanjukta Singh (Angul), Sulkhnsa Gitanajali Devi (Samakhemundi) and Dr Indira Nanda (Jeypore).
While denying party ticket to Angul MLA Rajanikant Singh, BJD nominated his wife Sanjukta Singh from the same seat. Former minister and ex-MLA Rabi Nanda was also denied party ticket. His wife Dr Indira Nanda got the BJD ticket for the Jeypore assembly
