BJD’s 2nd LS poll list out; Former Mumbai top cop Arup Patnaik pitted against BJP’s Sambit Patra

Bhubaneswar: A few hours after announcing its first list of nine candidates for 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Odisha, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) today declared its second list of six candidates for the upcoming Parliamentary elections.

The BJD has fielded former Mumbai Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik from Puri Lok Sabha seat. The former IPS officer will take on BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra. Patnaik had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Bhubaneswar segment.

Sitting BJD MP from Puri, Pinaki Mishra, had earlier expressed his unwillingness to contest the 2024 polls.

The party has picked Avinash Samal, a doctor by profession, for Dhenkanal segment. Samal happens to be the nephew of Dhenkanal MLA Sudhir Samal. The BJD has denied ticket to its sitting Dhenkanal MP Mahesh Sahoo.

The ruling party, however, re-nominated Rajashree Mallick to fight the Lok Sabha polls from Jagatsinghpur seat. Mallick, a trained doctor, had won the seat in 2019.

Kandhamal MP Achyuta Samanta also got the re-nomination from BJD to fight the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from the same seat.

The BJD has fielded Santrupt Misra, former top executive at Aditya Birla Group, from Cuttack seat. Notably, sitting Cuttack MP Bhartruhari Mahtab had resigned from the ruling BJD a few days ago.

The regional party has re-nominated Jajpur MP Sarmistha Sethi to contest the 2024 polls from the same segment.

Constituency                  Candidate

Puri                                  Arup Patnaik

Dhenkanal                     Avinash Samal

Jagatsinghpur               Rajashree Mallick

Kandhamal                   Achyuta Samanta

Cuttack                         Santrupt Misra

Jajpur                           Sarmistha Sethi