BJD announces candidates for Balasore LS, 9 Assembly seats in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) today announced its third list of nine candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections in Odisha.

The party also announced its candidate for Balasore Lok Sabha seat ahead of the 2024 Parliamentary elections in the state.

Lekhasri Samantasinghar, who recently joined the BJD after resigning from the BJP, has been picked by the regional party to fight the Lok Sabha polls from Balasore constituency.

The ruling party has fielded former Rajya Sabha MP and minister Prasanna Acharya from Sambalpur Assembly seat. It has re-nominated Rairakhol MLA Rohit Pujari from the same seat for 2024 polls in Odisha.

Bhubaneswar Central MLA Ananta Narayan Jena also got the re-nomination from the BJD to fight the upcoming Assembly polls from the same seat.

The BJD has picked Gitanjali Routray, the wife of MLA Sambit Routray and daughter-in-law of late minister Damodar Rout, to fight the polls from Paradeep Assembly seat.

The ruling party has so far announced its candidates for all 21 Lok Sabha seats and 108 Assembly seats of the total 147 in Odisha for the ensuing twin polls.

The Naveen Patnaik-led party had announced the first list of candidates for 9 Lok Sabha seats and 72 Assembly seats on March 27.

The party had also issued the second list of 6 candidates for 2024 Lok Sabha polls in the state on the same day.

The regional party had announced its third list of candidates for five Lok Sabha seats and second list of candidates for 27 Assembly seats in Odisha on April 3.

Notably, the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in Odisha will be held in four phases on May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1.

The counting of votes will be done on June 4.

The list of candidates:

Balasore Lok Sabha seat—Lekhasri Samantasinghar

Assembly seats: 

Laxmipur–Prabhu Jani

Paradeep—Gitanjali Routray

Sambalpur—Prasanna Acharya

Rairakhol—Rohit Pujari

Telkoi—Madhab Sardar

Talcher—Braja Kishore Pradhan

Narla—Manorama Mohanty

Bhubaneswar Central—Ananta Narayan Jena

Baliguda–Chakramani Kanhar