Dhamnagar by-poll: Congress fields Harekrushna Sethi

The opposition Congress on Wednesday named Baba Harekrushna Sethi as its candidate for the November 3 by-election to Dhamnagar Assembly constituency in Odisha's Bhadrak district.

The decision was announced in a press note issued by Mukul Wasnik, AICC general secretary in-charge of the party's Central Election Committee.

The by-election was necessitated after the demise of BJP MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi on September 19.

Sethi, an advocate by profession, thanked Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi and OPCC president Sarat Pattnayak for nominating him as the party candidate for the Dhamnagar by-poll.

Though he will contest the Assembly election for the first time, Sethi said he is not new to politics.

I am in politics since my student days, he told reporters.

Meanwhile, BJP candidate Suryabanshi Suraj, the son of Bishnu Charan Sethi, filed his nomination on Tuesday while the BJD is yet to name its nominee.