Congress releases fresh list of candidates for Odisha Assembly elections
Bhubaneswar: The Congress on Sunday announced a fresh list of candidates for 75 Assembly constituencies in Odisha, including three changes.
The party has replaced candidates in three Assembly constituencies for which nominees had been announced in its first list released on April 2.
The Congress has fielded Devendra Bhitaria for the Talsara Assembly segment in the Sundargarh Lok Sabha constituency, replacing hockey player Prabodh Tirkey. Similarly, Upendra Pradhan replaces Surada Pradhan for the Baliguda seat in the Kandhamal district while Chiranjeevi Bisoyi has been replaced by Bipin Bihari Swain in the Kabisuryanagar constituency in the Ganjam district.
The fresh list of candidates released by the Congress comprises many new faces as well as some veteran leaders.
Former state unit chiefs Niranjan Patnaik and Jayadev Jena have been fielded from Bhandaripokhari and Anandpur Assembly constituencies, respectively. The party has fielded Pruthvi Ballav Patnaik, son of former Chief Minister Janaki Ballav Patnaik from Begunia constituency under Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha constituency and Dr Debasmita Sharma, daughter of former Congress MLA Devendra Sharma from Aul assembly seat in Kendrapara district.
Similarly, Susmita Singh Deo, a member of the Dhenkanal royal family, has been nominated by the party for the Dhenkanal Assembly constituency. The Congress has so far declared nominees for 119 seats out of the 147 in the state. The party had left two Assembly seats in Sundargarh – Biramitrapur and Bonai – for the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the CPI-M, respectively.