Odisha: BJD releases 3rd list of candidates for Assembly elections

The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has released its third list of candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls in the state.

BJD president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday declared the names of candidates for 9 more Assembly constituencies of the state.

The BJD has so far announced candidates for 108 Vidhan Sabha and 20 Lok Sabha constituencies out of the 147 Assembly and 21 Parliamentary constituencies. The party has nominated ex-BJP leader and former Salipur MLA, Prakash Behera for Barabati-Cuttack seat. Behera on Wednesday joined BJD after quitting BJP.

Behera had been elected to the state Assembly from Salipur constituency on a Congress ticket in 2014.

He later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and contested the 2019 elections on BJP ticket but lost to BJD’s Prasant Behera.

Meanwhile, the party has renominated Prasant Behera, Sarada Prasad Nayak and Swarup Kumar Das from Salipur, Rourkela and Balasore Vidhan Sabha constituencies this time.

Noted tribal leader and former Sundargarh MLA George Tirkey’s son Rohit Joseph Tirkey has been fielded from the Biramitrapur Assembly seat.

Tirkey had fought elections from the Biramitrapur seat on a Congress ticket in 2019. The party had nominated Sudarshan Haripal from Rengali in Sambalpur district.

The BJD nominated Meena Majhi from the Keonjhar Vidhan sabha constituency.

Former cop Raisen Murmu who joined BJD in November 2023 has been fielded from Rairangpur constituency in the Mayurbhanj district.

Naba Kishore Mallick has been named as a candidate from the Jayadev Assembly segment under the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha constituency.

Mallick had contested elections in 2019 from the Jaydev constituency as an Independent candidate.